
Book_^_ 



SSO 



Mi 



t y 






Sir Roger de Coverley 

BY THE SPECTATOR. 

THE NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY W. HENRY WILLS : 

THE ENGRAVINGS BY THOMPSON, FROM 

DESIGNS BY FRED. TAYLER. 




LONDON: 
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. 

1850. 



•Ai*T 




ADVERTISEMENT, 




jQuHE aim of the Spectator, as defined by 
^0} Dr. Tohnfon. was cc to tench the. mi- 



Dr. Johnfon, was cc to teach the mi- 
nuter decencies and inferior duties ; to 
regulate the practice of daily converfation ; to cor- 
rect thofe depravities which are rather ridiculous 
than criminal^ and remove thofe grievances which 
if they produce no lafting calamities, imprefs hourly 
vexation." The machinery adopted by the Spectator 
to accomplifh this object — to foften the harfhnefs 
of his cenfures, to difarm the marpeft ftrictures of 
the fmalleft offence — was a club ; the members of 
which — after the grave taciturn ubiquitous keen, 
but kindly, Spectator himfelf — were reprefentatives 
of the various claffes of fociety whofe faults and ab- 
furdities rendered them moft in need of pertinent 
admonition. To the coarfe intemperate ignorant 
and arrogant country efquires of that day, the 
gentle Mentor fpoke through Sir Roger de Co- 



iv Advertifement. 

verley : no model magiftrate, or felf-righteous 
cenfor ; but a hearty humorous plain old gentle- 
man — one of themfelves — with enough of their 
foibles taftes and prejudices to win their fympa- 
thies and to charm them into reformation. 

None of the characters were elaborated with fo 
much care — to none was imparted fuch thorough 
completenefs, as that of Sir Roger de Coverley ; 
between which (to quote a faying of Horace Wal- 
pole) and Sir John FalftafT — though a wide inter- 
val — nothing like it exifts in literature for truth- 
fulnefs and finifh. Sir Roger's eccentricities do 
not, as fome have written, difturb the conliftency 
of the character : on the contrary they ftrengthen 
its individuality. If they be difcords, inftead of 
jarring, they enrich the harmony. They are pre- 
cifely the humours of an honefl elderly fenfitive ba- 
chelor, whofe early hiftory had been dafhed with 
the romance of his having been jilted. Sir Roger 
does nothing and fays nothing which might not 
have been faid and done, in his day, by any warm- 
hearted ruftic gentleman who had been irredeem- 
ably crofTed in love. Indeed, turning thus from 
Nature to the confummate Art which copied her, 
it can fcarcely be denied that the character owes its 
immortality to the quaint traits of extravagance 



Advertifement. v 

which have been ftigmatized as blemimes : with- 
out impairing the efficacy of Sir Roger as a fpecial 
admonitory example to the country efquire of the 
reign of Queen Anne, his oddities were deftined 
to rivet the intereft and excite the affectionate fmile 
of all readers in all time. 

The effays which feparate the Coverley papers 
from one another, however exquifite in themfelves, 
break the fpell which binds the reader while linger- 
ing over the benevolence or humour of the Wor- 
cestershire baronet. Even when arranged more 
conveniently in a fequence, as in this book, it is 
not pleafing to remember that fo captivating an 
Identity was originated and wrought out by c 'feve- 
ral hands." Every frefh lineament of the good Sir 
Roger fo ftrengthens the fenfe of Unity, that we 
rather love to be deluded with the notion that the 
whole was the work of one mind. With all art fo 
perfect that it conceals art, we prefer the ignorance 
which is our blifs, to the knowledge that reveals 
the companionships, contrivances, or agonies of 
authorcraft. Though curiofity is gratified, fenti- 
ment is hurt, when we are told that the outlines of 
Sir Roger de Coverley were imagined and partly 
traced by Sir Richard Steele ; that the colouring 
and more prominent lineaments were elaborated by 



vi Advertifement. 



jofeph Addifon ; that fome of the back-ground 
was put in by Euftace Budgell ; and, that the 
portrait was defaced by either Steele or Thomas 
Tickell with a deformity which Addifon repudiated 
and which is not here reproduced. 

The fum of the account in hard figures ftands 
thus; — Sir Roger de Coverley's adventures, opi- 
nions, and converfations occur in thirty of the Spec- 
tator's papers. Of thefe, Addifon wrote twenty, 
Budgell two, and Steele eight; if it be certain 
that he was the author of the obnoxious portion 
of No. 410; which has alfo been attributed to 
Tickell. 

But over this divided labour, all evidence proves 
that Addifon exercifed a rigid and harmonifing 
editorial vigilance. In the words of an accurate 
critic, cc Addifon took the rude outlines into his 
own hands, retouched them, coloured them ; and 
is, in truth, the creator of the Sir Roger de Co- 
verley and the Will Honeycomb with whom 
we are all familiar." The habits of Addifon and 
Steele were thofe of a clofe literary partnership. 
What Steele's quick impatient genius planned, Ad- 
difon's rich tafte and thoughtful induftry executed : 
what were, and would perhaps have ever remained, 
dreams in Steele's brain, came out diftincl: realities 



Advertifement. vii 

from under Addifon's hand. Between them Pope's 
maxim was fully obeyed : — 

" To write with fervour and correct with phlegm." 

Steele fupplied fome of the fervour : Addifon all 
the finim, all the phlegm. 

But, it muft be repeated, thofe who love Sir Roger 
de Coverley love not thefe ungenial revelations. 
They like to feel that the fine-hearted creation comes 
from a fingle fource ; — from thofe nicely-balanced 
{lores of touching pathos and refined humour ; of 
found common-fenfe and polifhed wit ; of keen fa- 
tire and kind words ; of fharp obfervation and ge- 
nial defcription which exift in the fingle gentleman 
who paints his own portrait in the firfl pages, and 
who is known wherever Englifh letters can be 
read, as 

" THE SPECTATOR. " 




LIST OF ENGRAVINGS 

FROM DESIGNS BY FREDERICK TAYLER. 

Page 

Coverley Hall 19 

You would take his Valet de Chambre for his Bro- 
ther, his Butler is grey-headed, his Groom is one of 
the graveft Men that I have ever feen, and his Coach- 
man has the Looks of a Privy Counfellor. 

The Coverley Guest 33 

As I was Yefterday Morning walking with Sir Roger 
before his Houfe, a Country-Fellow brought him a 
huge Fifh. 

The Coverley Lineage 39 

We were now arrived at the Upper-end of the Gal- 
lery, when the Knight faced towards one of the Pic- 
tures, and as we flood before it, he entered into the 
matter, after his blunt way. 

The Coverley Sabbath 51 

As Sir Roger is Landlord to the whole Congrega- 
tion, he keeps them in very good Order, and will fuffer 
nobody to fleep in it befides himfelf. 

Sir Roger in Love 57 

Her Confident fat by her, and upon my being in the 
laft Confufion and Silence, this malicious Aid of hers 
turning to her. 



Lift of Engravings, 



Page 

The Coverley Hunt 71 

The Huntfman getting forward threw down his Pole 
before the Dogs. At the fame time Sir Roger rode 
forward, and alighting took up the Hare in his Arms. 

The Coverley Witch 81 

I could not forbear fmiling to hear Sir Roger, who 
is a little puzzled about the old Woman, advifmg her 
as a Juftice of Peace to avoid all Communication with 
the Devil. 

A Coverley Love Match 87 

We faw a young Woman fitting as it were in a per- 
fonated Sullennefs juft over a tranfparent Fountain. 
Oppofite to her ftood Mr. William, Sir Roger's Mailer 
of the Game. 

Sir Roger and the Gipsies ...... 127 

One of them, who was older and more Sun-burnt 
than the reft, told him, That he had a Widow in his 
Line of Life. 

Coverley Hall at Christmas Time . . . 146 

I love to rejoice their poor Hearts at this feafon, 
and to fee the whole Village merry in my great Hall. 

Sir Roger in Westminster Abbey . . . .151 

My old Friend fat himfelf down in the Coronation 
Chair : and afked our Interpreter, what authority they 
had to fay, that Jacob had ever been in Scotland ? The 
Fellow, inftead of returning him an Anfwer, told him, 
that he hoped his Honour would pay his Forfeit. 

Sir Roger passeth away 175 

It was a moft moving fight to fee him take leave of 
his poor Servants, commending us all for our Fidelity, 
whilft we were not able to fpeak a word for weeping. 




CONTENTS. 



Chap. 

The Author's Preface 

I. Sir Roger and the Club 

II. Coverley Hall 

III. The Coverley Houfehold 

IV. The Coverley Gueft 

V. The Coverley Lineage - 

VI. The Coverley Ghoft 

VII. The Coverley Sabbath 

VIII. Sir Roger in Love . 

IX. The Coverley (Economy 

X. The Coverley Hunt ; 

XI. The Coverley Witch . 

XII. A Coverley Love Match 

XIII. The Coverley Etiquette 

XIV. The Coverley Ducks 
XV. Sir Roger on the Bench 

XVI. A Story of an Heir 

XVII. Sir Roger and Party Spirit 

XVIII. On Gipfeys in General . 
XIX. A Summons to London 



Page 

i 

9 

*9 

26 

33 

39 
4 6 

5* 

57 
66 

7i 
81 

87 
94 

99 

105 

112 

120 
127 
131 



X 



Contents. 



XX. Farewell to Coverley Hall 

XXI. Sir Roger in London .... 
XXII. Sir Roger in Weftminfter Abbey 

XXIII. Sir Roger at The Play-houfe 

XXIV. Sir Roger at Vauxhall . 

XXV. Sir Roger, The Widow, Will Honeycomb 

and Milton .... 

XXVI. Sir Roger pafTeth away . 

Notes and Illustrations .... 



Page 
136 

H3 

158 

164 

169 

*75 
181 





THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 




Non fumum ex fulgore, fed ex fumo dare luce?n 
Cogitat, ut fpeciofa dehinc miracula promat. 

Hor. 

HAVE obferved, that a Reader 
feldom perufes a Book with Plea- 
fure, until he knows whether the 
Writer of it be a black or a fair 
Man, of a mild or cholerick Difpofition, Married 
or a Bachelor, with other Particulars of the like 
Nature, that conduce very much to the right un- 
derftanding of an Author. To gratify this Curi- 
ofity, which is fo natural to a Reader, I defign 
this Paper and my next as Prefatory Difcourfes to 
my following Writings, and mall give fome Ac- 
count in them of the feveral Perfons that are en- 
gaged in this Work. As the chief Trouble of 
Compiling, Digefting, and Correcting will fall to 
my Share, I mull do myfelf the Juftice to open 
the Work with my own Hiftory. 

I was born to a fmall Hereditary Eftate, which 



The Author s Preface. 



according to the Tradition of the Village where it 
lies, was bounded by the fame Hedges and Ditches 
in 'William the Conqueror's Time that it is at pre- 
fent, and has been delivered down from Father to 
Son whole and entire without the Lofs or Acqui- 
fition of a fingle Field or Meadow, during the 
Space of fix hundred Years. There runs a Story 
in the Family, that my Mother dreamt that fhe 
had brought forth a Judge : Whether this might 
proceed from a Law-Suit which was then depend- 
ing in the Family, or my Father's being a Juftice 
of the Peace, I cannot determine ; for I am not fo 
vain as to think it prefaged any Dignity that I 
mould arrive at in my future Life, though that 
was the Interpretation which the Neighbourhood 
put upon it. The Gravity of my Behaviour at my 
very firfb Appearance in the World, feemed to 
favour my Mother's Dream : For, as fhe has often 
told me, I threw away my Rattle before I was two 
Months old, and would not make ufe of my Coral 
until they had taken away the Bells from it. 

AS for the reft of my Infancy, there being no- 
thing in it remarkable, I mail pafs it over in Si- 
lence. I find, that, during my Nonage, I had the 
Reputation of a very fullen Youth, but was al- 
ways a Favourite of my Schoolmafter, who ufed 
to fay, that my Farts were /olid, and would wear 



The Author s Preface. 3 

well. I had not been long at the Univerfity, before 
I diftinguifhed myfelf by a moft profound Silence; 
for during the Space of eight Years, excepting in 
the publick Exercifes of the College, I fcarce ut- 
tered the Quantity of an hundred Words ; and in- 
deed do not remember that I ever fpoke three 
Sentences together in my whole Life. Whilft I 
was in this learned Body, I applied myfelf with fo 
much Diligence to my Studies, that there are very 
few celebrated Books, either in the learned or the 
modern Tongues, which I am not acquainted with. 

UPON the Death of my Father, I was refolved 
to travel into foreign Countries, and therefore left 
the Univerfity, with the Character of an odd un- 
accountable Fellow, that had a great deal of Learn- 
ing, if I would but mow it. An infatiable Third 
after Knowledge carried me into all the Coun- 
tries of Europe, in which there was any thing new 
or ftrange to be feen ; nay, to fuch a Degree was 
my Curiofity raifed, that having read the Contro- 
verfies of fome great Men concerning the Anti- 
quities of Egypt, I made a Voyage to Grand Cairo, 
on purpofe to take the Meafure of a Pyramid : 
And as foon as I had fet myfelf right in that 
Particular, returned to my native Country with 
great Satisfaction. 

I have pafTed my latter Years in this City, where 



4 The Author s Preface. 

I am frequently feen in moft publick Places, though 
there are not above half a dozen of my felect 
Friends that know me ; of whom my next Paper 
mall give a more particular Account. There is 
no Place of general Refort, wherein I do not often 
make my Appearance ; fometimes I am &£n thruft- 
ing my Head into a Round of Politicians at Will's, 
and liftning with great Attention to the Narra- 
tives that are made in thofe little circular Au- 
diences. Sometimes I fmoke a Pipe at Child's, 
and whilft I feem attentive to nothing but the 
Poftman, overhear the Converfation of every Ta- 
ble in the Room. I appear on Sunday Nights at 
St. James* s Coffee-houfe, and fometimes join the 
little Committee of Politicks in the Inner-Room, 
as one who comes there to hear and improve. 
My Face is likewife very well known at the Gre- 
cian, the Cocoa-Free, and in the Theatres both of 
Drury-Lane and the Hay-Market. I have been 
taken for a Merchant upon the Exchange for 
above thefe ten Years, and fometimes pafs for a 
Jew in the AfTembiy of Stock-jobbers at Jona- 
than's: In fhort, where-ever I fee a Clufter of 
People, I always mix with them, though I never 
open my Lips but in my own Club. 

THUS I live in the World rather as a Specta- 
tor of Mankind, than as one of the Species ; by 



The Author s Preface. 5 

which Means I have made myfelf a Speculative 
Statesman, Soldier, Merchant, and Artifan, with- 
out ever meddling with any practical Part in Life. 
I am very well verfed in the Theory of a Huf- 
band or a Father, and can difcern the Errors in 
the Oeconomy, Bufinefs, and Diverfion of others, 
better than thofe who are engaged in them ; as 
Standers-by difcover Blots, which are apt to efcape 
thofe who are in the Game. I never efpoufed any 
Party with Violence, and am refolved to obferve 
an exact Neutrality between the Whigs and To- 
ries, unlefs I mail be forced to declare myfelf by 
the Hoftilities of either fide. In fhort, I have 
acted in all the Parts of my Life as a Looker-on, 
which is the Character I intend to preferve in this 
Paper. 

THERE are three very material Points which 
I have not fpoken to in this Paper ; and which, 
for federal important Reafons, I muft keep to my- 
felf, at leafc for fome Time : I mean, an Account 
of my Name, my Age, and my Lodgings. I murt 
confefs, I would gratify my Reader in any Thing 
that is reafonable; but as for thefe three Particu- 
lars, though I am fenfible they might tend very 
much to the Embellishment of my Paper, I can- 
not yet come to a Refolution of communicating 
them to the Publick. They would indeed draw 



6 The Author s Preface. 

me out of that Obfcurity which I have enjoyed for 
many Years, and expofe me in publick Places to 
feveral Salutes and Civilities, which have been 
always very difagreeable to me; for the greateft 
Pain I can fuffer, is the being talked to, and being 
ftated at. It is for this Reafon likewife, that I 
keep my Complexion and Drefs as very great Se- 
crets ; though it is not impoffible, but I may make 
Difcoveries of both in the Progrefs of the Work 
I have undertaken. 

AFTER having been thus particular upon my- 
felf, I mall in To-morrow's Paper give an Ac- 
count of thofe Gentlemen who are concerned with 
me in this Work ; for, as I have before intimated, 
a Plan of it is laid and concerted (as all other 
Matters of Importance are) in a Club. However, 
as my Friends have engaged me to ftand in the 
Front, thofe who have a mind to correfpond with 
me, may direcl: their Letters to the Spectator, at 
Mr. Buckley's in Little-Britain. For I muft fur- 
ther acquaint the Reader, that though our Club 
meets only on Tuejdays and < Thurfdays y we have 
appointed a Committee to fit every Night, for the 
infpection of all fuch Papers as may contribute 
to the Advancement of the Publick Weal. 

The Spectator. 

London, Thurfday, March i, 1710-11. 




SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY, 



CHAPTER I. 



Sir Roger and the Club. 




Aft alitfex 
Et plures uno conclamant ore 

Juv. 

HE firft of our Society is a Gen- 
tleman of Worcefterjhire, of ancient 
Defcent, a Baronet, his Name Sir 
Roger de Coverley. His Great 
Grandfather was Inventor of that famous Country- 
Dance which is called after him. All who know 
that Shire are very well acquainted with the Parts 
and Merits of Sir Roger. He is a Gentleman 
that is very fingular in his Behaviour, but his Sin- 
gularities proceed from his good Senfe, and are 
Contradictions to the Manners of the World, only 
as he thinks the World is in the wrong. How- 



io Sir Roger and the Club. 

ever, this Humour creates him no Enemies, for 
he does nothing with Sournefs or Obftinacy ; and 
his being unconfined to Modes and Forms, makes 
him but the readier and more capable to pleafe 
and oblige all who know him. When he is in 
Town, he lives in Soho-Square. It is faid, he 
keeps himfelf a Bachelor by reafon he was crofTed 
in Love by a perverfe beautiful Widow of the 
next County to him. Before this Difappointment, 
Sir Roger was what you call a fine Gentleman, 
had often fupped with my Lord Rochejier and Sir 
George Etherege, fought a Duel upon his firft com- 
ing to Town, and kicked Bully Daw/on in a pub- 
lick Coffee-houfe for calling him Youngfter. But 
being ill ufed by the above-mentioned Widow, 
he was very ferious for a Year and a half; and 
though, his Temper being naturally jovial, he at 
laft got over it, he grew carelefs of himfelf, and 
never dreffed afterwards. He continues to wear 
a Coat and Doublet of the fame Cut that were in 
Faihion at the Time of his Repulfe, which, in his 
merry Humours, he tells us, has been in and out 
twelve Times fince he firft wore it. He is now 
in his fifty-fixth Year, cheerful, gay, and hearty ; 
keeps a good Houfe both in Town and Coun- 
try ; a great Lover of Mankind ; but there is fuch 
a mirthful Caft in his Behaviour, that he is rather 



Sir Roger and the Club. 1 1 

beloved than efteemed. His Tenants grow rich, 
his Servants look fatisned, all the young Women 
profefs Love to him, and the young Men are glad 
of his Company : When he comes into a Houfe 
he calls the Servants by their Names, and talks all 
the Way up Stairs to a Vifit. I muft not omit, 
that Sir Roger is a Juftice of the Quorum ; that 
he fills the Chair at a Quarter-Seffion with great 
Abilities, and three Months ago gained univerfal 
Applaufe by explaining a Paflage in the Game- 
Ad. 

THE Gentleman next in Efteem and Autho- 
rity among us, is another Bachelor, who is a Mem- 
ber of the Inner-Temple ; a Man of great Probity, 
Wit, and Underftanding ; but he has chofen his 
Place of Residence rather to obey the Direction of 
an old humourfom Father, than in purfuit of his 
own Inclinations. He was placed there to ftudy 
the Laws of the Land, and is the moft learned of 
any of the Houfe in thofe of the Stage. Ariftotle 
and Longinus are much better underftood by him 
than Littleton or Coke. The Father fends up every 
Poft Queftions relating to Marriage -Articles, 
Leafes, and Tenures, in the Neighbourhood ; all 
which Queftions he agrees with an Attorney to 
anfwer and take care of in the Lump. He is 
ftudying the Paffions themfelves, when he fhould 



1 2 Sir Roger and the Club. 

be inquiring into the Debates among Men which 
arife from them. He knows the Argument of 
each of the Orations of Demofthenes and Tully, but 
not one Cafe in the Reports of our own Courts. 
No one ever took him for a Fool, but none, ex- 
cept his intimate Friends, know he has a great 
deal of Wit. This Turn makes him at once both 
difinterefted and agreeable : As few of his Thoughts 
are drawn from Bufinefs, they are mod of them fit 
for Converfation. His Tafte of Books is a little 
too juft for the Age he lives in ; he has read all, 
but approves of very few. His Familiarity with 
the Cuftoms, Manners, Actions, and Writings of 
the Ancients, makes him a very delicate Obferver 
of what occurs to him in the prefent World. He 
is an excellent Critick, and the Time of the Play 
is his Hour of Bufinefs ; exactly at five he paffes 
through New-Inn , croffes through RuJfell-Court y 
and takes a turn at Wills till the Play begins ; 
he has his Shoes rubbed and his Periwig powdered 
at the Barber's as you go into the Rofe. It is for 
the Good of the Audience when he is at a Play, 
for the Actors have an Ambition to pleafe him. 

THE Perfon of next Confideration, is Sir An- 
drew Freeport, a Merchant of great Eminence 
in the City of London. A Perfon of indefatigable 
Induftry, ftrong Reafon, and great Experience. 



Sir Roger and the Club. 1 3 

His Notions of Trade are noble and generous, 
and (as every rich Man has ufually fome fly Way 
of Jetting, which would make no great Figure 
were he not a rich Man) he calls the Sea the Bri- 
tijh Common, He is acquainted with Commerce 
in all its Parts, and will tell you that it is a ftupid 
and barbarous Way to extend Dominion by Arms ; 
for true Power is to be got by Arts and Induftry. 
He will often argue, that if this Part of our Trade 
were well cultivated, we mould gain from one Na- 
tion ; and if another, from another. I have heard 
him prove, that Diligence makes more lafting Ac- 
quifitions than Valour, and that Sloth has ruined 
more Nations than the Sword. He abounds in 
feveral frugal Maxims, amongft which the greater!: 
Favourite is, c A Penny faved is a Penny got.' A 
general Trader of good Senfe is pleafanter Com- 
pany than a general Scholar; and Sir Andrew 
having a natural unaffected Eloquence, the Per- 
fpicuity of his Difcourfe gives the fame Pleafure 
that Wit would in another Man. He has made 
his Fortunes himfelf ; and fays that England may 
be richer than other Kingdoms, by as plain Me- 
thods as he himfelf is richer than other Men ; 
though at the fame time I can fay this of him, 
that there is not a Point in the Compafs but blows 
home a Ship in which he is an Owner. 



14 Sir Roger and the Club. 

NEXT to Sir Andrew in the Club-Room fits 
Captain Sentrey, a Gentleman of great Courage, 
good Understanding, but invincible Modefty. He 
is one of thofe that deferve very well, but are very 
awkward at putting their Talents within the Ob- 
fervation of fuch as mould take notice of them. 
He was fome Years a Captain, and behaved him- 
felf with great Gallantry in feveral Engagements 
and at feveral Sieges ; but having a fmall Eftate 
of his own, and being next Heir to Sir Roger, he 
has quitted a Way of Life in which no Man can 
rife fuitably to his Merit, who is not fomething of 
a Courtier as well as a Soldier. I have heard him 
often lament, that in a Profeflion where Merit is 
placed in fo confpicuous a View, Impudence mould 
get the better of Modefty. When he has talked 
to this Purpofe I never heard him make a four 
Expremon, but frankly confefs that he left the 
World, becaufe he was not fit for it. A ftricT: Ho- 
nefty and an even regular Behaviour, are in them- 
felves Obftacles to him that muft prefs through 
Crowds, who endeavour at the fame End with 
himfelf, the Favour of a Commander. He will 
however in his way of Talk excufe Generals, for 
not difpofing according to Men's Defert, or enquir- 
ing into it : For, fays he, that great Man who has 
a mind to help me, has as many to break through 



Sir Roger and the Club. 1 5 

to come at me, as I have to come at him : There- 
fore he will conclude, that the Man who would 
make a Figure, efpecially in a Military Way, 
muft get over all falfe Modefty, and aflift his Pa- 
tron againft the Importunity of other Pretenders, 
by a proper AfTurance in his own Vindication. 
He fays it is a civil Cowardife to be backward in 
afferting what you ought to expect, as it is a mili- 
tary Fear to be flow in attacking when it is your 
Duty. With this Candor does the Gentleman 
fpeak of himfelf and others. The fame Franknefs 
runs through all his Converfation. The military 
Part of his Life has furnifhed him with many 
Adventures, in the Relation of which he is very 
agreeable to the Company ; for he is never over- 
bearing, though accuftomed to command Men in 
the utmoft Degree below him ; nor ever too obfe- 
quious from an Habit of obeying Men highly 
above him. 

BUT that our Society may not appear a Set of 
Humourift.s unacquainted with the Gallantries and 
Pleafures of the Age, we have among us the gal- 
lant Will Honeycomb, a Gentleman who ac- 
cording to his Years mould be in the Decline of 
his Life, but having ever been very careful of his 
Perfon, and always had a very eafy Fortune, Time 
has made but a very little Impreffion, either by 



1 6 Sir Roger and the Club. 

Wrinkles on his Forehead, or Traces in his Brain. 
His Perfon is well turned, of a good Height He 
is very ready at that fort of Difcourfe with which 
Men ufually entertain Women. He has all his 
Life drefied very well, and remembers Habits as 
others do Men. He can fmile when one fpeaks to 
him, and laughs eafily. He knows the Hiftory 
of every Mode, and can inform you from which 
of the French king's Wenches our Wives and 
Daughters had this Manner of curling their Hair, 
that Way of placing their Hoods ; whofe Frailty 
was covered by fuch a fort of Petticoat, and whofe 
Vanity to fhew her Foot made that Part of the 
Drefs fo fhort in fuch a Year. In a word, all his 
Converfation and Knowledge have been in the 
female World : as other Men of his Age will take 
notice to you what fuch a Minifter faid upon fuch 
and fuch an Occafion, he will tell you when the 
Duke of Monmouth danced at Court, fuch a Wo- 
man was then fmitten, another was taken with him 
at the Head of his Troop in the Park. In all 
thefe important Relations, he has ever about the 
fame time received a kind Glance or a Blow of a 
Fan from fome celebrated Beauty, Mother of the 
prefent Lord fuch-a-one. If you fpeak of a young 
Commoner that faid a lively thing in the Houfe, 
he ftarts up, c He has good Blood in his Veins, 



Sir Roger and the Club. ij 

' Tom Mirabell, the Rogue, cheated me in that Af- 
c fair : that young Fellow's Mother ufed me more 
c like a Dog than any Woman I ever made Ad- 
c vances to.' This way of Talking of his very much 
enlivens the Converfation among us of a more fe- 
date Turn ; and I find there is not one of the Com- 
pany, but myfelf, who rarely fpeak at all, but fpeaks 
of him as of that fort of Man who is ufually called 
a well-bred fine Gentleman. To conclude his Cha- 
racter, where Women are not concerned, he is an 
honeft worthy Man. 

I cannot tell whether I am to account him whom 
I am next to fpeak of, as one of our Company ; 
for he viiits us but feldom, but when he does it 
adds to every Man elfe a new enjoyment of himfelf. 
He is a Clergyman, a very Philofophick Man, of 
general Learning, great Sanctity of Life, and the 
moit exact good Breeding. He has the Misfor- 
tune to be of a very weak Conftitution, and confe- 
quently cannot accept of fuch Cares and Bufinefs 
as Preferments in his. Function would oblige him 
to : He is therefore among Divines what a Cham- 
ber-Counfellor is among Lawyers. The Probity 
of his Mind, and the Integrity of his Life, create 
him Followers, as being eloquent or loud advances 
others. He feldom introduces the Subject he 
fpeaks upon ; but we are fo far gone in Years, that 



i8 



Sir Roger and the Club, 



he obferves when he is among us, an Earneftnefs 
to have him fall on fome divine Topick, which he 
always treats with much Authority, as one who 
has no Interefts in this World, as one who is 
hardening to the Objecl: of all his Wifhes, and con- 
ceives Hope from his Decays and Infirmities. 
Thefe are my ordinary Companions. 





CHAP. II. 
Coverley Hall. 

Hinc tibi Copia 
Manabit ad plenum , benigno 
Rurts honor urn opulent a cornu. Hor. 

AVING often received an Invitation 
from my Friend Sir Roger de Cover- 
ley to £afs away a Month with him in 
the Country, I laft Week accompanied him thither, 
and am fettled with him for fome Time at his Coun- 




20 Cover ley Hall. 

try-houfe, where I intend to form feveral of my 
enfuing Speculations. Sir Roger, who is very well 
acquainted with my Humour, lets me rife and go 
to Bed when I pleafe, dine at his own Table or in 
my Chamber as I think fit, fit ftill and fay nothing 
without bidding me be merry. When the Gen- 
tlemen of the County come to fee him, he only 
fhows me at a Diftance : As I have been walking 
in his Fields I have obferved them ftealing a Sight 
of me over an Hedge, and have heard the Knight 
defiring them not to let me fee them, for that I 
hated to be flared at. 

I am the more at Eafe in Sir Roger's Family, 
becaufe it confifts of fober and (laid Perfons ; for 
as the Knight is the bed Mafter in the World, 
he feldom changes his Servants ; and as he is be- 
loved by all about him, his Servants never care for 
leaving him ; by this means his Domefticks are 
all in Years, and grown old with their Mafter. 
You would take his Valet de Chambre for his 
Brother, his Butler is grey-headed, his Groom is 
one of the graveft Men that I have ever feen, 
and his Coachman has the Looks of a Privy- 
Counfellor. You fee the Goodnefs of the Mafter 
even in the old Houfe-dog, and in a gray Pad 
that is kept in the Stable with great Care and 
Tendernefs out of Regard to his paft Services, 



Cover ley Hall. * 21 

though he has been ufelefs for feveral Years. 

I could not but obferve with a great deal of 
Pleafure the Joy that appeared in the Counte- 
nances of thefe ancient Domefticks upon my 
Friend's Arrival at his Country-Seat. Some of 
them could not refrain from Tears at the Sight 
of their old Matter ; every one of them prefs'd 
forward to do fome thing for him, and feemed dis- 
couraged if they were not employed. At the fame 
time the good old Knight, with a Mixture of the 
Father and the Matter of the Family, tempered 
the Inquiries after his own Affairs with feveral 
kind Queftions relating to th^mfelves. This Hu- 
manity and Good-nature engages every Body to 
him, fo that when he is pleafant upon any of 
them, all his Family are in good Humour, and 
none fo much as the Perfon whom he diverts 
himfelf with : On the contrary, if he coughs, or 
betrays any Infirmity of old Age, it is eafy for a 
Stander-by to obferve a fecret Concern in the 
Looks of all his Servants. 

MY worthy Friend has put me under the par- 
ticular Care of his Butler, who is a very prudent 
Man, and, as well as the reft of his Fellow-Ser- 
vants, wonderfully defirous of pleafing me, be- 
caufe they have often heard their Matter talk of 
me as of his particular Friend. 



22 Cover ley Hall. 

MY chief Companion, when Sir Roger is di- 
verting himfelf in the Woods or the Fields, is a 
very venerable Man who is ever with Sir Roger, 
and has lived at his Houfe in the Nature of a 
Chaplain above thirty Years. This Gentleman is 
a Perfon of good Senfe and fome Learning, of a 
very regular Life and obliging Converfation : He 
heartily loves Sir Roger, and knows that he is 
very much in the old Knight's Efteem, fo that he 
lives in the Family rather as a Relation than a 
Dependent. 

I have obferved in feveral of my Papers, that 
my Friend Sir Roger, amidfl: all his good Quali- 
ties, is fomething of an Humourift ; and that his 
Virtues, as well as Imperfections, are as it were 
tinged by a certain Extravagance, which makes 
them particularly his, and diftinguifhes them from 
thofe of other Men. This Cad of Mind, as it is 
generally very innocent in itfelf, fo it renders his 
Converfation highly agreeable, and more delightful 
than the fame Degree of Senfe and Virtue would 
appear in their common and ordinary Colours. 
As I was walking with him laft Night, he afked 
me how I liked the good Man whom I have juft 
now mentioned ? and without ftaying for my An- 
fwer told me, That he was afraid of being infulted 
with Latin and Greek at his own Table ; for 



Cover ley Hall. 23 

which Reafon he defired a particular Friend of 
his at the Univerfity to find him out a Clergyman 
rather of plain Senfe than much Learning, of a 
good Afpect, a clear Voice, a fociable Temper ; 
and, if poffible, a Man that underftood a little of 
Back-Gammon. My Friend, fays Sir Roger, 
found me out this Gentleman, who, befides the 
Endowments required of him, is, they tell me, a 
good Scholar, though he does not mew it : I have 
given him the Parfonage of the Parifri ; and be- 
caufe I know his Value have fettled upon him a 
good Annuity for Life. If he outlives me, he 
mail find that he was higher in my Efteem than 
perhaps he thinks he is. He has now been with 
me thirty Years ; and though he does not know I 
have taken notice of it, has never in all that time 
afked any thing of me for himfelf, though he is 
every Day foliciting me for fomething in Behalf 
of one or other of my Tenants his Parifhioners. 
There has not been a Law-fuit in the Parifh fince 
he has lived among them : if any Difpute arifes 
they apply themfelves to him for the Decifion ; if 
they do not acquiefce in his Judgment, which I 
think never happened above once or twice at moft, 
they appeal to me. At his firft fettling with me, 
I made him a Prefent of all the good Sermons 
which have been printed in Englijh, and only 



24 Cover ley Hall. 

begged of him that every Sunday he would pro- 
nounce one of them in the Pulpit. Accordingly 
he has digefted them into fuch a Series, that they 
follow one another naturally, and make a continued 
Syftem of practical Divinity. 

AS Sir Roger was going on in his Story, the 
Gentleman we were talking of came up to us ; and 
upon the Knight's aiking him who preached To- 
morrow (for it was Saturday Night) told us, the 
Bifhop of St. Afaph in the Morning, and Dr. 
South in the Afternoon. He then fhewed us his 
Lift of Preachers for the whole Year, where I faw 
with a great deal of Pleafure Archbiihop Tillot- 
Jon, Bifhop Saunderfon, Dr. Barrow y Dr. Calamy> 
with feveral living Authors who have publifhed 
Difcourfes of Practical Divinity. I no fooner 
faw this venerable Man in the Pulpit, but I very 
much approved of my Friend's infifting upon the 
Qualifications of a good Afpect and a clear 
Voice ; for I was fo charmed with the Graceful- 
nefs of his Figure and Delivery, as well as with 
the Difcourfes he pronounced, that I think I ne- 
ver pafTed any Time more to my Satisfaction. 
A Sermon repeated after this Manner, is like the 
Compoiition of a Poet in the Mouth of a grace- 
ful Actor. 

I could heartily wifh that more of our Country- 



Cover ley Hall. 25 

Clergy would follow this Example ; and inftead 
of wafting their Spirits in laborious Compofitions 
of their own, would endeavour after a handfom 
Elocution, and all thofe other Talents that are pro- 
per to enforce what has been penned by greater 
Mafters. This would not only be more eafy to 
themfelves, but more edifying to the People. 






CHAP. III. 

The Coverley Household. 

JEfopo ingentem Jiatuam pofuere Attici, 
Sewumque collocarunt JEterna in Bq/i, 
Patere honoris fcirent ut Cundlis <viam. 

Ph^dr. 

'HE Reception, manner of Attendance, 
undifturbed Freedom and Quiet, which 
I meet with here in the Country, has 
confirmed me in the Opinion I always had, that 
the general Corruption of Manners in Servants is 
owing to the Conduct of Matters. The Afpect of 
every one in the Family carries fo much Satisfac- 
tion, that it appears he knows the happy Lot 
which has befallen him in being a Member of it. 
There is one Particular which I have feldom feen 
but at Sir Roger's ; it is ufual in all other places, 
that Servants fly from the Parts of the Houfe 
through which their Matter is patting : on the con- 
trary, here they induftrioufly place themfelves in 



The Cover ley Houfebold. 27, 

his way ; and it is on both Sides, as it were, un- 
derstood as a Vint, when the Servants appear with- 
out calling. This proceeds from the human and 
equal Temper of the Man of the Houfe, who alfo 
perfectly well knows how to enjoy a great Eftate, 
with fuch Oeconomy as ever to be much before- 
hand. This makes his own Mind untroubled, and 
confequently unapt to vent peevifh Expreffions, or 
give pamonate or inconfiftent Orders to thofe about 
him. Thus Refpecl and Love go together ; and 
a certain Chearfulnefs in Performance of their 
Duty is the particular Difrinclion of the lower 
Part of this Family. When a Servant is called 
before his Mafler, he does not come with an Ex- 
pectation to hear himfelf rated for fome trivial 
Fault, threatened to be flripped or ufed with any 
other unbecoming Language, which mean Matters 
often give to worthy Servants ; but it is often to 
know, what Road he took that he came fo readily 
back according to Order ; whether he parTed by 
fuch a Ground, if the old Man who rents it is in 
good Health ; or whether he gave Sir Roger's 
Love to him, or the like. 

A Man who preferves a Refpecl, founded on 
his Benevolence to his Dependents, lives rather 
like a Prince than a Matter in his Family ; his Or- 
ders are received as Favours, rather than Duties ; 



28 The Cover ley Houfehold. 

and the Diftinction of approaching him is Part of 
the Reward for executing what is commanded by 
him. 

THERE is another Circumftance in which my 
Friend excels in his Management, which is the 
Manner of rewarding his Servants : He has ever 
been of Opinion, that giving his caft Clothes to be 
worn by Valets has a very ill Effect upon little 
Minds, and creates a filly Senfe of Equality between 
the Parties, in Perfons affected only with outward 
things. I have heard him often pleafant on this 
Occafion, and defcribe a young Gentleman abufing 
his Man in that Coat, which a Month or two be- 
fore was the mod pleafing Distinction he was con- 
fcious of in himfelf. He would turn his Difcourfe 
ftill more pleafantly upon the Ladies Bounties of 
this kind ; and I have heard him fay he knew a 
fine Woman, who distributed Rewards and Punifh- 
ments in giving becoming or unbecoming DrefTes 
to her Maids. 

BUT my good Friend is above thefe little In- 
stances of Good-will, in beftowing only Trifles on 
his Servants ; a good Servant to him is fure of 
having it in his Choice very foon of being no Ser- 
vant at all. As I before obferved, he is fo good an 
Hufband, and knows fo thoroughly that the Skill 
of the Purfe is the Cardinal Virtue of this Life ; 



The Cover ley Houfehold. 29 

I fay, he knows fo well that Frugality is the Sup- 
port of Generofity, that he can often fpare a large 
Fine when a Tenement falls, and give that Settle- 
ment to a good Servant who has a mind to go into 
the World, or make a Stranger pay the Fine to 
that Servant, for his more comfortable Mainte- 
nance, if he ftays in his Service. 

A Man of Honour and Generoiity confiders it 
would be miferable to himfelf to have no Will but 
that of another, though it were of the beft Perfon 
breathing, and for that Reafon goes on as faft as 
he is able to put his Servants into independent 
Livelihoods. The greater! Part of Sir Roger's 
Eftate is tenanted by Perfons who have ferved 
himfelf or his Anceftors. It was to me extremely 
pleafant to obferve the Vifitants from feveral Parts 
to welcome his Arrival into the Country ; and all 
the Difference that I could take notice of between 
the late Servants who came to fee him, and thofe 
who ftaid in the Family, was that thefe latter 
were looked upon as finer Gentlemen and better 
Courtiers. 

THIS Manumiflion and placing them in a way 
of Livelihood, I look upon as only what is due 
to a good Servant, which Encouragement v/ill 
make his SuccerTor be as diligent, as humble, and 
as ready as he was. There is fomething wonder- 



30 The Cover ley Houfehold. 

ful in the Narrownefs of thofe Minds, which can 
be pleafed, and be barren of Bounty to thofe who 
pleafe them. 

ONE might, on this Occafion, recount the 
Senfe that Great Perfons in all Ages have had of 
the Merit of their Dependents, and the Heroic Ser- 
vices which Men have done their Mailers in the 
Extremity of their Fortunes ; and fhewn to their 
undone Patrons, that Fortune was all the Differ- 
ence between them ; but as I defign this my 
Speculation only as a gentle Admonition to thank- 
lefs Matters, I mall not go out of the Occurrences 
of common Life, but affert it as a general Obfer- 
vation, that I never faw, but in Sir Roger's Fa- 
mily, and one or two more, good Servants treated 
as they ought to be. Sir Roger's Kindnefs ex- 
tends to their Children's Children, and this very 
Morning he fent his Coachman's Grandfon to 
Prentice. I fhall conclude this Paper with an 
Account of a Picture in his Gallery, where there 
are many which will defer ve my future Obferva- 
tion. 

AT the very upper End of this handfom Struc- 
ture I faw the Portraiture of two young Men 
{landing in a River, the one Naked, the other in a 
Livery. The Perfon fupported feemed half Dead, 
but flill fo much alive as to fhew in his Face ex- 



The Cover ley Houfehold. 3 1 

quifite Joy and Love towards the other. I thought 
the fainting Figure refembled my Friend Sir Ro- 
ger ; and looking at the Butler, who flood by me, 
for an Account of it, he informed me that the 
Perfon in the Livery was a Servant of Sir Roger's, 
who flood on the Shore while his Mafler was 
fwimming, and obferving him taken with fome 
fudden Illnefs, and fink under Water, jumped in 
and faved him. He told me Sir Roger took off 
the Drefs he was in as foon as he came home, and 
by a great Bounty at that time, followed by his 
Favour ever fince, had made him Mafler of that 
pretty Seat which we faw at a diflance as we came 
to this Houfe. I remembered indeed Sir Roger 
faid there lived a very worthy Gentleman, to whom 
he was highly obliged, without mentioning any 
thing further. Upon my looking a little diffatif- 
fyed at fome part of the Picture, my Attendant 
informed me that it was againfl Sir Roger's Will, 
and at the earnefl Requefl of the Gentleman him- 
felf, that he was drawn in the Habit in which he 
had faved his Mafler. 




CHAP. IV. 

The Coverley Guest. 

Gratis an/ielans, multa agendo nihil agens. PHiEDR. 

S I was Yefterday Morning walking 
with Sir Roger before his Houfe, a 
Country-Fellow brought him a huge 
Fifh, which, he told him, Mr. William Wimble 
had caught that very Morning ; and that he pre- 
fented it, with his Service to him, and intended to 




34 *£he Cover ley Guejl. 

come and dine with him. At the fame time he 
delivered a Letter, which my Friend read to me as 
foon as the MefTenger left him. 

c Sir Roger, 
c T Defire you to accept of a Jack, which is the 
c Ji beft I have caught this Seafon. I intend to 
c come and ftay with you a Week, and fee how 
c the Perch bite in the Black River. I obferved 
c with fome Concern, the laft time I faw you upon 
c the Bowling-Green, that your Whip wanted a 
c Lam to it ; I will bring half a dozen with me 
c that I twifted laft Week, which I hope will ferve 
c you all the Time you are in the Country. I have 
c not been out of the Saddle for fix Days laft pan 1 , 
c having been at Eaton with Sir John's eldeft Son. 
c He takes to his Learning hugely. I am, 

c SIR, Tour Humble Servant, 

c Will Wimble.' 

THIS extraordinary Letter, and MefTage that 
accompanied it, made me very curious to know the 
Character and Quality of the Gentleman who fent 
them ; which I found to be as follows. Will 
Wimble is younger Brother to a Baronet, and de- 
fended of the ancient Family of the Wimbles. 
He is now between Forty and Fifty ; but being 



The Cover ley Gueji. 35 

bred to no Buflnefs and born- to no Eftate, he ge- 
nerally lives with his elder Brother as Superin- 
tendant of his Game. He hunts a Pack of Dogs 
better than any Man in the Country, and is very 
famous for rinding out a Hare. He is extremely 
well verfed in all the little Handicrafts of an idle 
Man : He makes a May-fly to a Miracle ; and fur- 
nifhes the whole Country with Angle-Rods. As 
he is a good-natured officious Fellow, and very 
much efteemed upon Account of his Family, he 
is a welcome Gueft at every Houfe, and keeps up 
a good Correfpondence among all the Gentlemen 
about him. He carries a Tulip-Root in his Pocket 
from one to another, or exchanges a Puppy be- 
tween a Couple of Friends that live perhaps in 
the oppofite Sides of the Country. Will is a par- 
ticular Favourite of all the young Heirs, whom he 
frequently obliges with a Net that he has weaved, 
or a Setting-dog that he has made himfelf. He 
now and then prefents a Pair of Garters of his own 
knitting to their Mothers or Sifters ; and raifes 
a great deal of Mirth among them, by inquir- 
ing as often as he meets them how they wear ? 
Thefe Gentleman-like Manufactures and obliging 
little humours make Will the Darling of the 
Country. 

Sir Roger was proceeding in the Character of 



36 The Cover ley Gueji. 

him, when we faw him make up to us with two 
or three Hazle-twigs in his Hand that he had cut 
in Sir Roger's Woods, as he came through them, 
in his Way to the Houfe. I was very much 
pleafed to obferve on one Side the hearty and fin- 
cere Welcome with which Sir Roger received him, 
and on the other, the fecret Joy which his Gueft 
difcovered at Sight of the good old Knight. After 
the firft Salutes were over. Will defired Sir Ro- 
ger to lend him one of his Servants to carry a 
Set of Shuttlecocks he had with him in a little 
Box to a Lady that lived about a Mile off, to 
whom it feems he had promifed fuch a Prefent for 
above this half year. Sir Roger's Back was no 
fooner turned but honeft Will began to tell me of 
a large Cock-pheafant that he had fprung in one of 
the neighbouring Woods, with two or three other 
Adventures of the fame Nature. Odd and uncom- 
mon Characters are the Game that I look for, and 
moft delight in; for which Reafon I was as much 
pleafed with the Novelty of the Perfon that talked 
to me, as he could be for his Life with the fpring- 
ing of a Pheafant, and therefore liftened to him 
with more than ordinary Attention. 

IN the midft of his Difcourfe the Bell rung to 
Dinner, where the Gentleman I have been fpeak- 
ing of had the pleafure of feeing the huge Jack, he 



The Cover ley Guejh 37 



had caught, ferved up for the firft Dim in a mod 
fumptuous manner. Upon our fitting down to 
it he gave us a long Account how he had hooked 
it, played with it, foiled it, and at length drew it 
out upon the Bank, with feVeral other Particulars 
that lafted all the firft Courfe. 1 A Dim of Wild- 
'fowl that came afterwards furnimed Converfation 
for the reft of the Dinner, which concluded with 
a late Invention of Will's for improving the Quail- 
pipe. 

UPON withdrawing into my Room after Din- 
ner, I was fecretly touched with Companion to- 
wards the honeft Gentleman that had dined with 
us ; and could not but consider with a great deal 
of Concern, how fo good an Heart and fuch bufy 
Hands were wholly employed in Trifles ; that fo 
much Humanity fhould be fo little beneficial to 
others, and fo much Induftry fo little advanta- 
geous to himfelf. The fame Temper of Mind and 
Application to Affairs might have recommended 
him to the publick Efteem, and have raifed his 
Fortune in another Station of Life. What Good 
to his Country or himfelf might not a Trader or 
a Merchant have done with fuch ufeful though 
ordinary Qualifications ? 

WILL WIMBLE* is the Cafe of many a 
younger Brother of a great Family, who had rather 



38 The Cover ley Gueji. 

fee their Children ftarve like Gentlemen, than 
thrive in a Trade or Profeffion that is beneath their 
Quality. This Humour fills feveral Parts of Eu- 
rope with Pride and Beggary. It is the Happi- 
nefs of a Trading Nation, like ours, that the 
younger Sons, though uncapable of any liberal 
Art or Profeffion, may be placed in fuch a way 
of Life, as may perhaps enable them to vie with 
the beft of their Family : Accordingly we find 
feveral Citizens that were launched into the World 
with narrow Fortunes, rifing by an honeft Induftry 
to greater Eftates than thofe of their elder Bro- 
thers. It is not improbable but WILL was for- 
merly tried at Divinity, Law, or Phyfick; and that 
finding his Genius did not lie that Way, his Pa- 
rents gave him up at length to his own Inven- 
tions. But certainly, however improper he might 
have been for Studies of a higher Nature, he was 
perfectly well turned for the Occupations of Trade 
and Commerce. 




CHAP. V. 

The Coverley Lineage. 



Abnormis fapiens 



Hor. 




WAS this Morning walking in the 
Gallery, when Sir Roger entered at 
the End oppofite to me, and advanc- 
ing towards me, faid he was glad to meet me 
among his Relations the De Coverleys, and 
hoped I liked the Converfation of fo much good 



40 The Cover ley Lineage. 

Company, who were as filent as myfelf. I knew 
he alluded to the Pictures, and as he is a Gentle- 
man who does not a little value himfelf upon his 
ancient Defcent, I expected he would give me 
fome Account of them. We were now arrived at 
the Upper-end of the Gallery, when the Knight 
faced towards one of the Pictures, and as we flood 
before it, he entered into the matter, after his blunt 
way of faying Things, as they occur to his Imagi- 
nation, without regular Introduction, or Care to 
preferve the Appearance of Chain of Thought. 

c IT is,' faid he, c worth while to consider the 
c Force of Drefs ; and how the Perfons of one Age 
f differ from thofe of another, merely by that only. 
c One may obferve alfo, that the general Fafhion 
c of one Age has been followed by one particular 
c Set of People in another, and by them preferved 
c from one Generation to another. Thus the vaft 
c jetting Coat and fmall Bonnet, which was the 
c Habit in Harry the Seventh's Time, is kept on 
c in the Yeomen of the Guard ; not without a good 
c and politick View, becaufe they look a Foot 
c taller, and a Foot and an half broader : Befides 
c that the Cap leaves the Face expanded, and con- 
c fequently more terrible, and fitter to ftand at the 
< Entrance of Palaces. 

c THIS PredecefTor of ours, you fee, is dreffed 



The Cover ley Lineage. 41 

c after this manner, and his Cheeks would be no 
c larger than mine, were he in a Hat as I am. He 
c was the laft Man that won a Prize in the Tilt- 
c Yard (which is now a Common Street before 
c Whitehall) You fee the broken Lance that lies 
c there by his right Foot ; He fhivered that Lance 
c of his Adverfary all to Pieces ; and bearing him- 
c felf, look you, Sir, in this manner, at the fame 
c time he came within the Target of the Gentle- 
c man who rode againft him, and taking him with 
c incredible Force before him on the Pommel of 
c his Saddle, he in that manner rid the Turnament 
c over, with an Air that fhewed he did it rather to 
c perform the Rule of the Lifts, than expofe his 
f Enemy ; however, it appeared he knew how to 
c make ufe of a Victory, and with a gentle Trot 
c he marched up to a Gallery where their Miftrefs 
c fat (for they were Rivals) and let him down with 
c laudable Courtefy and pardonable Infolence. I 
c don't know but it might be exactly where the 
c Coffee-houfe is now. 

c YOLT are to know this my Anceftor was not 
c only of a military Genius, but fit alfo for the Arts 
c of Peace, for he played on the Bafs-Viol as well 
c as any Gentleman at Court ; you fee where his 
c Viol hangs by his Bafket-hilt Sword. The Ac- 
c tion at the Tilt-yard you may be fure won the 



42 The Cover ley Lineage. 



c fair Lady, who was a Maid of Honour, and the 
c greater! Beauty of her Time ; here me ftands the 
c next Picture. You fee, Sir, my Great Great 
c Great Grandmother has on the new-famioned 
c Petticoat, except that the Modern is gathered at 
f the Wade ; my Grandmother appears as if me 
c flood in a large Drum, whereas the Ladies now 
c walk as if they were in a Go-Cart. For all this 
c Lady was bred at Court, fhe became an excellent 
c Country-Wife, fhe brought ten Children, and 
1 when I fhew you the Library, you mail fee in 
c her own Hand, (allowing for the Difference of 
c the Language) the beft Receipt now in England 
c both for an Hafty-pudding and a White-pot. 

c IF you pleafe to fall back a little, becaufe 'tis 
c neceffary to look at the three next Pictures at one 
c View ; thefe are three Sifters. She on the right 
c Hand> who is fo very beautiful, died a Maid : 
c the next to her, ftill handfomer, had the fame 
c Fate, againft her Will ; this Homely Thing in the 
c middle had both their Portions added to her own, 
c and was ftolen by a neighbouring Gentleman, a 
c Man of Stratagem and Refolution, for he poi- 
c foned three Maftiffs to come at her, and knocked 
f down two Deer-ftealers in carrying her off. Mif- 
* fortunes happen in all Families : The Theft of 
c this Romp and fo much Money, was no great 



The Cover ley Lineage. 43 

c matter to our Eftate. But the next Heir that 
c pofTefTed it was this foft Gentleman, whom you 
1 fee there : Obferve the fmall Buttons, the little 
c Boots, the Laces, the Slafhes about his Clothes, 
c and above all the Pofture he is drawn in, (which 
c to be fure was his own choofing ;) you fee he fits 
c with one Hand on a Defk writing and looking as 
c it were another way, like an eafy Writer, or a 
c Sonneteer : He was one of thofe that had too 
1 much Wit to know how to live in the World ; 
c he was a Man of no Juftice, but great Good- 
c Manners ; he ruined every Body that had any 
c thing to do with him, but never faid a rude thing 
c in his Life ; the mod indolent Perfbn in the 
c World, he would fign a Deed that paiTed away 
c half his Eftate with his Gloves on, but would not 
c put on his Hat before a Lady if it were to fave 
c his Country. He is faid to be the firft that made 
c Love by fqueezing the Hand. He left the Ef- 
c tate with ten thoufand Pounds Debt upon it : but 
c however by all Hands I have been informed that 
( he was every way the fined Gentleman in the 
c World. That Debt lay heavy on our Houfe for 
f one Generation, but it was retrieved by a Gift from 
c that honeft Man you fee there, a Citizen of our 
c Name, but nothing at all akin to us. I know 
c Sir Andrew Freeport has faid behind my 



44 The Coverley Lineage. 

f Back, that this Man was defcended from one of 
f the ten Children of the Maid of Honour I mewed 
c you above ; but it was never made out. We 
c winked at the thing indeed, becaufe Money was 
c wanting at that time/ 

Here I faw my Friend a little embarraffed, and 
turned my Face to the next Portraiture. 

SIR Roger went on with his Account of the 
Gallery in the following manner. c This Man ' 
(pointing to him I looked at) c I take to be the 
c Honour of our Houfe, Sir Humphrey de Co- 
c verley ; he was in his Dealings as punctual as 
c a Tradefman, and as generous as a Gentleman. 
c He would have thought himfelf as much undone 
c by breaking his Word, as if it were to be followed 
c by Bankruptcy. He ferved his Country as Knight 
c of this Shire to his dying Day. He found it no 
c eafy matter to maintain an Integrity in his Words 
( and Actions, even in things that regarded the Of- 
c fices which were incumbent upon him, in the 
c Care of his own Affairs and Relations of Life, 
c and therefore dreaded (though he had great Ta- 
4 lents) to go into Employments of State, where 
c he muft be expofed to the Snares of Ambition. 
c Innocence of Life and great Ability were the dif- 
c tinguifhing Parts of his Character ; the latter, 
c he had often obferved, had led to the Deftruc- 



The Cover ley Lineage. 45 

c tion of the former, and ufed frequently to lament 
f that Great and Good had not the fame Signiflca- 
c tion. He was an excellent Hufbandman, but 
f had refolv'd not to exceed fuch a Degree of 
c Wealth ; all above it he beflowed in fecret Boun- 
c ties many Years after the Sum he aimed at for 
c his own Ufe was attained. Yet he did not flacken 
c his Induftry, but to a decent old AgQ fpent the 
c Life and Fortune which was fuperfluous to him- 
c felf, in the Service of his Friends and Neigh- 
c hours.' 

HERE we were called to Dinner, and Sir Ro- 
ger ended the Difcourfe of this Gentleman, by 
telling me, as we followed the Servant, that this 
his Anceftor was a brave Man, and narrowly ef- 
caped being killed in the Civil Wars ; £ For/ faid 
he, c he was fent out of the Field upon a private 
c MefTage, the Day before the Battle of Worcefter? 

The Whim of narrowly efcaping by having 
been within a Day of Danger, with other Matters 
above-mentioned, mixed with good Senfe, left me 
at a lofs whether I was more delighted with my 
Friend's Wifdom or Simplicity. 



K 





CHAP. VI. 

The Coverley Ghost. 

Horror ubique animos,Jimul ipfa filentia terrent. 

Virg. 

!T a little diftance from Sir Roger's 
Houfe, among the Ruins of an old 
Abbey, there is a long Walk of aged 
Elms , which are fhot up fo very high, that when 
one pafTes under them, the Rooks and Crows that 
reft upon the Tops of them feem to be Cawing in 
another Region. I am very much delighted with 
this fort of Noife, which I confider as a kind of 
natural Prayer to that Being who fupplies the 
Wants of his whole Creation, and who, in the 
beautiful Language of the Pfalnts, feedeth the 
young Ravens that call upon him. I like this 
Retirement the better, becaufe of an ill Report it 
lies under of being haunted ; for which Reafon (as 
I have been told in the Family) no living Creature 
ever walks in it betides the Chaplain. My good 



The Cover ley Ghoji. 47 

Friend the Butler defired me with a very grave 
Face not to venture myfelf in it after Sun-fet, for 
that one of the Footmen had been almoft frighted 
out of his Wits by a Spirit that appear'd to him 
in the Shape of a black Horfe without an Head ; 
to which he added, that about a Month ago one 
of the Maids coming home late that way with a 
Pail of Milk upon her Head, heard fuch a Ruft- 
ling among the Bufhes that me let it fall. 

I was taking a Walk in this Place laft Night 
between the Hours of Nine and Ten, and could 
not but fancy it one of the more, proper Scenes in 
the World for a Ghoft to appear in. The Ruins 
of the Abbey are fcattered up and down on every 
Side, and half covered with Ivy and Elder-Bufhes, 
the Harbours of feveral folitary Birds which fel- 
dom make their Appearance till the Dufk of the 
Evening. The Place was formerly a Church- 
yard, and has ftill feveral Marks in it of Graves 
and Burying-Places. There is fuch an Echo among 
the old Ruins and Vaults, that if you flamp but a 
little louder than ordinary, you hear the Sound re- 
peated. At the fame time the Walk of Elms, 
with the Croaking of the Ravens which from time 
to time are heard from the Tops of them, looks 
exceeding folemn- and venerable. Thefe Objects 
naturally raife Serioufnefs and Attention ; and 



48 The Coverley Ghoji. 

when Night heightens the Awfulnefs of the Place, 
and pours out her fupernumerary Horrors upon 
every thing in it, I do not at all wonder that weak 
Minds fill it with Spectres and Apparitions. 

Mr. LOCKE, in his Chapter of the AfTociation 
of Ideas, has very curious Remarks to mew how 
by the Prejudice of Education one Idea often in- 
troduces into the Mind a whole Set that bear no 
Refemblance to one another in the Nature of 
things. Among feveral Examples of this Kind, 
he produces the following Inftance. The Ideas 
of Goblins and Sprights have really no more to do 
with Darknejs than Light : Tet let but a foolijh 
Maid inculcate theje often on the Mind of a Child, 
and raife them there together, poffibly he Jhall never 
be able to Jeparate them again Jo long as he lives ; 
but Darknejs /hall ever afterwards bring with it 
thofe frightful Ideas, and they jhall be Jo joined that 
he can no more bear the one than the other, 

AS I was walking in this Solitude, where the 
Dufk of the Evening confpired with fo many other 
Occafions of Terror, I obferved a Cow grazing 
not far from me, which an Imagination that was 
apt to ftartle might eafily have conftrued into a 
black Horfe without an Head : And I dare fay 
the poor Footman loft his Wits upon fome fuch 
trivial Occafion. 



The Coverley Ghoft. 49 

MY Friend Sir Roger has often told me with 
a good deal of Mirth, that at his firft coming to 
his Eftate he found three Parts of his Houfe alto- 
gether ufelefs ; that the beft Room in it had the 
Reputation of being haunted, and by that means 
was locked up ; that Noifes had been heard in his 
long Gallery, fo that he could not get a Servant 
to enter it after eight o' Clock at Night ; that the 
Door of one of his Chambers was nailed up, be- 
caufe there went a Story in the Family that a But- 
ler had formerly hang'd himfelf in it ; and that 
his Mother, who lived to a great Age, had fhut 
up half the Rooms in the Houfe, in which either 
her Hufband, a Son, or Daughter had died. The 
Knight feeing his Habitation reduced to fo fmall 
a Compafs, and himfelf in a manner jfhut out of 
his own Houfe, upon the Death of his Mother 
ordered all the Apartments to be flung open and 
exorcifed by his Chaplain, who lay in every Room 
one after another, and by that means diflipated the 
Fears which had fo long reigned in the Family. 

I mould not have been thus particular upon 
thefe ridiculous Horrors, did not I find them fo 
very much prevail in all Parts of the Country. At 
the fame time I think a Perfon who is thus terri- 
fy'd with the Imagination of Ghofts and Spectres 
much more reafonable than one who, contrary to 



50 The Cover ley Ghoji. 

the Report of all Hiftorians facred and profane, 
ancient and modern, and to the Traditions of all 
Nations, thinks the Appearance of Spirits fabu- 
lous and groundlefs : Could not I give myfelf up 
to this general Teftimony of Mankind, I mould 
to the Relations of particular Perfons who are now 
living, and whom I cannot diftruft in other Mat- 
ters of Fact. I might here add, that not only the 
Hiftorians, to whom we may join the Poets, but 
likewife the Philofophers of Antiquity have fa- 
voured this Opinion. 





CHAP. VII. 

The Coverley Sabbath. 

Tiy,S.. PYTHAG. 

AM always very well pleafed with a 
Country Sunday, and think, if keeping 
holy the feventh Day were only a hu- 
man Inftitution, it would be the beft Method that 
could have been thought of for the polifhing and 
civilizing of Mankind. It is certain the Country- 




52 The Cover ley Sabbath. 



People would ibon degenerate into a kind of Sa- 
vages and Barbarians, were there not fuch frequent 
Returns of a ftated Time, in which the whole 
Village meet together with their beft Faces, and 
in their clean! ieft Habits to converfe with one 
another upon indifferent Subjects, hear their Du- 
ties explained to them, and join together in Ado- 
ration of the Supreme Being. Sunday clears away 
the Ruft of the whole Week, not only as it re- 
frefhes in their Minds the Notions of Religion, 
but as it puts both the Sexes upon appearing in 
their moft agreeable Forms, and exerting all fuch 
Qualities as are apt to give them a Figure in the 
Eye of the Village. A Country Fellow diftin- 
guifhes himfelf as much in the Church-yard, as a 
Citizen does upon the Change, the whole Parifh- 
Politicks being generally difcuffed in that Place 
either after Sermon or before the Bell rings. 

MY Friend Sir Roger, being a good Church- 
man, has beautified the Infide of his Church with 
feveral Texts of his own choofing : He has like- 
wife given a handfom Pulpit-Cloth, and railed in 
the Communion-Table at his own Expence. He 
has often told me, that at his coming to his Ef- 
tate he found his Parifhioners very irregular; and 
that in order to make them kneel and join in the 
Refponfes, he gave every one of them a Haffock 



The Cover ley Sabbath. 53 

and a Common-prayer Book : and at the fame 
time employed an itinerant Singing Mailer, who 
goes about the Country for that purpofe, to in- 
ftrucl: them rightly in>the Tunes of the Pfalms ; 
upon which they now very much value themfelves, 
and indeed out-do moft of the Country Churches 
that I have ever heard. 

As Sir Roger is Landlord to the whole Con- 
gregation, he keeps them in very good Order, and 
will fuffer no body to fleep in it befldes himfelf ; 
for if by chance he has been furprifed into a fhort 
Nap at Sermon, upon recovering out of it he 
ftands up and looks about him, and if he fees any 
Body elfe nodding, either wakes them himfelf, or 
fends his Servants to them. Several other of the 
old Knight's Particularities break out upon thefe 
Occafions : Sometimes he will be lengthening out 
a Verfe in the Singing-Pfalms, half a Minute after 
the reft of the Congregation have done with it ; 
fometimes, when he is pleafed with the Matter of 
his Devotion, he pronounces Amen three or four 
times to the fame Prayer ; and fometimes ftands 
up when every Body elfe is upon their Knees, to 
count the Congregation, or fee if any of his Te- 
nants are miffing. 

I was yefterday very much furprifed to hear 
my old Friend, in the midft of the Service, call- 

M 



54 ^he Cover ley Sabbath, 

ing out to one John Matthews to mind what he 
was about, and not diflurb the Congregation. This 
John Matthews it Teems is remarkable for being 
an idle Fellow, and at that time was kicking his 
Heels for his Diverfion. This Authority of the 
Knight, though exerted in that odd manner which 
accompanies him in all Circumstances of Life, has 
a very good Effect upon the Parifh, who are not 
polite enough to fee any thing ridiculous in his 
Behaviour ; beiides that the general good Senfe 
and Worthinefs of his Character makes his Friends 
obferve thefe little Singularities as Foils that ra- 
ther fet off than blemifh his good Qualities. 

AS foon as the Sermon is fmifhed, no body pre- 
fumes to ftir till Sir Roger is gone out of the 
Church. The Knight walks down from his Seat 
in the Chancel between a double Row of his Te- 
nants, that ftand bowing to him on each Side : 
and every now and then inquires how fuch an 
one's Wife, or Mother, or Son, or Father do, 
whom he does not fee at Church ; which is un- 
derftood as a fecret Reprimand to the Perfon that 
is abfent. 

THE Chaplain has often told me, that upon a 
Catechin"ng Day, when Sir Roger has been pleafed 
with a Boy that anfwers well, he has ordered a 
Bible to be given him next Day for his Encou- 



The Cover ley Sabbath. 55 

ragement; and fometimes accompanies it with a 
Flitch of Bacon to his Mother. Sir Roger has 
likewife added five Pounds a Year to the Clerk's 
Place ; and that he may encourage the young Fel- 
lows to make themfelves perfect in the Church- 
Service, has promifed upon the Death of the 
prefent Incumbent, who is very old, to beftow 
it according to Merit. 

THE fair Underftanding between Sir Roger 
and his Chaplain, and their mutual Concurrence 
in doing Good, is the more remarkable, becaufe 
the very next Village is famous for the Differences 
and Contentions that rife between the Parfon and 
the 'Squire, who live in a perpetual State of War. 
The Parfon is always preaching at the 'Squire, and 
the 'Squire to be revenged on the Parfon never 
comes to Church. The 'Squire has made all his 
Tenants Atheifts and Tithe-Stealers ; while the 
Parfon inftructs them every Sunday in the Dig- 
nity of his Order, and infinuates to them in al- 
moft every Sermon, that he is a better Man than 
his Patron. In fhort, Matters are come to fuch 
an Extremity, that the 'Squire has not faid his 
Prayers either in publick or private this half Year ; 
and that the Parfon threatens him, if he does not 
mend his Manners, to pray for him in the Face of 
the whole Congregation. 



56 The Cover ley Sabbath. 

FEUDS of this Nature, though too frequent 
in the Country, are very fatal to the ordinary 
People; who are fo ufed to be dazzled with 
Riches, that they pay as much Deference to the 
Understanding of a Man of an Eftate, as of a 
Man of Learning ; and are very hardly brought 
to regard any Truth, how important foever it 
may be, that is preached to them, when they 
know there are feveral Men of five hundred a 
Year who do not believe it. 





CHAP. VIII. 

Sir Roger in Love. 

Harent infixi peElore <vultus. Virg. 

J2?| SSPN my firft Defcription of the Company 
133 fell m which I pafs moft of my Time^ it 
may be remembred that I mentioned 
a great Affii&ion which my Friend Sir Roger had 
met with in his Youth ; which was no lefs than a 



5 8 Sir Roger in Love. 

Difappointment in Love. It happened this Even- 
ing, that we fell into a very pleafing Walk at a 
Diftance from his Houfe : As foon as we came 
into it, c It is,' quoth the good old Man, looking 
round him with a Smile, c very hard, that any Part 
' of my Land mould be fettled upon one who has 
c ufed me fo ill as the perverfe Widow did ; and 
c yet I am fure I could not fee a Sprig of any 
c Bough of this whole Walk of Trees, but I ihould 
c reflect upon her and her Severity. She has cer- 
c tainly the fineft Hand of any Woman in the 
c World. You are to know this was the Place 
c wherein I ufed to mufe upon her ; and by that 
c Cuftom I can never come into it, but the fame 
c tender Sentiments revive in my Mind, as if I had 
c actually walked with that beautiful Creature un- 
c der thefe Shades. I have been Fool enough to 
c carve her Name on the Bark of feveral of thefe 
c Trees ; fo unhappy is the Condition of Men in 
c Love, to attempt the removing of their Paflions 
c by the Methods which ferve only to imprint it 
c deeper. She has certainly the fineft Hand of any 
c Woman in the World.' 

HERE followed a profound Silence ; and I was 
not difpleafed to obferve my Friend falling fo na- 
turally into a Difcourfe, which I had ever before 
taken notice he induftrioufly avoided. After a very 



Sir Roger in Love. 59 

Jong Paufe he entered upon an Account of this 
great Circumftance in his Life, with an Air which 
I thought raifed my Idea of him above what I had 
ever had before ; and gave me the Picture of that 
chearful Mind of his, before it received that Stroke 
which has ever fince affected his Words and Ac- 
tions. But he went on as follows. 

c I came to my Eftate in my Twenty fecond 
c Year, and refolved to follow the Steps of the 
c mofl: worthy of my Anceftors who have inhabited 
c this Spot of Earth before me, in all the Methods 
i of Hofpitality and good Neighbourhood, for the 
c fake of my Fame ; and in Country Sports and 
1 Recreations, for the fake of my Health. In my 
c Twenty third Year I was obliged to ferve as 
c Sheriff of the County ; and in my Servants, Of- 
f fleers and whole Equipage, indulged the Pleafure 
f of a young Man (who did not think ill of his own 
c Perfon) in taking that public Occafion of mewing 
c my Figure and Behaviour to Advantage. You 
c may eafily imagine to yourfelf what Appearance I 
c made, who am pretty tall, rid well, and was very 
c well dreffed, at the Head of a whole County, 
c with Mufick before me, a Feather in my Hat, 
c and my Horfe well bitted. I can affure you I 
' was not a little pleafed with the kind Looks and 
' Glances I had from all the Balconies and Win- 



6o Sir Roger in Love. 



c dows as I rode to the Hall where the AfTizes 
c were held. But when I came there, a beautiful 
c Creature in a Widow's Habit fat in Court, to hear 
c the Event of a Caufe concerning her Dower. This 
f commanding Creature (who was born for De- 
c ftruction of all who behold her) put on fuch .a 
c Refignation in her Countenance, and bore the 
c Whifpers of all around the Court, with fuch a 
c pretty Uneafinefs, I warrant you, and then reco- 
c vered herfelf from one Eye to another, 'till fhe 
c was perfectly confufed by meeting fomething fo 
c wiflful in all fhe encountered, that at laft, with a 
c Murrain to her, me carl: her bewitching Eye 
c upon me. I no fooner met it, but I bowed like 
c a great furprifed Booby ; and knowing her Caufe 
c to be the firft which came on, I cried, like a cap- 
c tivated Calf as I was, Make way for the Defend- 
c ant's WitnefTes. This fudden Partiality made 
c all the County immediately fee the Sheriff alfo 
c was become a Slave to the fine Widow. During 
c the Time her Caufe was upon Trial, fhe behaved 
4 herfelf, I warrant you, with fuch a deep Atten- 
c tion to her Bufinefs, took Opportunities to have 
c little Billets handed to her Counfel, then would 
' be in fuch a pretty Confufion, occafioned, you 
{ mud know, by acting before fo much Company, 
c that not only I but the whole Court was preju- 



Sir Roger in Love. 61 

c diced in her Favour ; and all that the next Heir 
c to her Hufband had to urge, was thought fo 
c groundlefs and frivolous, that when it came to 
c her Counfel to reply, there was not half fo much 
c faid as every one befides in the Court thought he 
c could have urged to her Advantage. You muft 
c underftand, Sir, this perverfe Woman is one of 
f thofe unaccountable Creatures, that fecretly re- 
c joice in the Admiration of Men, but indulge 
c themfelves in no farther Confequences. Hence 
c it is that me has ever had a Train of Admirers, 
c and me removes from her Slaves in Town to 
c thofe in the Country, according to the Seafons of 
c the Year. She is a reading Lady, and far gone 
c in the Pleafures of Friendfhip : She is always ac- 
c companied by a Confident, who is Witnefs to her 
c daily Proteftations againft our Sex, and confe- 
c quently a Bar to her firft Steps towards Love, 
c upon the Strength of her own Maxims and De- 
c clarations. 

c HOWEVER, I muft needs fay this accom- 
c plifhed Miftrefs of mine has diftinguifhed me 
c above the reft, and has been known to declare 
c Sir Roger de Coverley was the tameft and 
c moft humane of all the Brutes in the Country. 
c I was told fhe faid fo by one who thought he ral- 
c lied me ; but upon the Strength of this flender 

o 



62 Sir Roger in Love. 

c Encouragement of being thought leaft deteftable, 
c I made new Liveries, new-paired my Coach- 
' Horfes, fent them all to Town to be bitted, and 
c taught to throw their Legs well, and move all 
c together, before I pretended to crofs the Country 
c and wait upon her. As foon as I thought my 
' Retinue fuitable to the Character of my Fortune 
c and Youth, I fet out from hence to make my 
' AddrefTes. The particular Skill of this Lady 
c has ever been to inflame your Wifhes, and yet 
c command Refpect. To make her Miftrefs of 
c this Art, fhe has a greater Share of Knowledge, 
c Wit, and good Senfe, than is ufual even among 
c Men of Merit. Then fhe is beautiful beyond 
' the Race of Women. If you won't let her go 
c on with a certain Artifice with her Eyes, and the 
c Skill of Beauty, fhe will arm herfelf with her 
c real Charms, and flrike you with Admiration. 
c It is certain that if you were to behold the whole 
c Woman, there is that Dignity in her Afpect, that 
c Compofure in her Motion, that Complacency in 
c her Manner, that if her Form makes you hope, 
c her Merit makes you fear. But then again, fhe 
c is fuch a defperate Scholar, that no Country- 
c Gentleman can approach her without being a Jeft. 
c As I was going to tell you, when I came to her 
Houfe I was admitted to her Prefence with great 



Sir Roger in Love. 63 

c Civility ; at the fame time me placed herfelf to 
f be firft feen by me in fuch an Attitude, as I think 
c you call the Pofture of a Picture, that me difco- 
f vered new Charms, and I at laft came towards 
( her with fuch an Awe as made me fpeechlefs. 
c This me no fooner obferved but me made her 
c Advantage of it, and began a Difcourfe to me 
c concerning Love and Honour, as they both are 
c followed by Pretenders, and the real Votaries to 
1 them. When me difcufTed thefe Points in a Dif- 
c courfe, which I verily believe was as learned as 
c the beft Philofopher in Europe could poffibly 
c make, fhe afked me whether me was fo happy 
c as to fall in with my Sentiments on thefe impor- 
c tant Particulars. Her Confident fat by her, and 
c upon my being in the laft Confufion and Silence, 
c this malicious Aid of hers turning to her fays, I 
c am very glad to obferve Sir Roger paufes upon 
c this Subject:, and feems refolved to deliver all his 
c Sentiments upon the Matter when he pleafes to 
c fpeak. They both kept their Countenances, and 
c after I had fat half an Hour meditating how to 
c behave before fuch profound Cafuifts, I rofe up 
c and took my Leave. Chance has fince that time 
c thrown me very often in her way, and fhe as 
c often has directed a Difcourfe to me which I do 
( not underftand. This Barbarity has kept me 



64 Sir Roger in Love, 

c ever at a diftance from the molt beautiful Ob- 
c jecl my Eyes ever beheld. It is thus alfo fhe 
c deals with all Mankind, and you mud make Love 
c to her, as you would conquer the Sphinx, by po- 
' fing her. But were me like other Women, and 
c that there were any talking to her, how con- 
c ftant muft the Pleafure of that Man be, who 

c could converfe with a Creature But, after all, 

c you may be fure her Heart is fixed on fome one 
c or other ; and yet I have been credibly informed ; 
c but who can believe half that is faid ! After fhe 
c had done fpeaking to me, fhe put her Hand to 
c her Bofom and adjufted her Tucker. Then fhe 
c caft, her Eyes a little down, upon my beholding 
c her too earneftly. They fay me fings excellently : 
c her Voice in her ordinary Speech has fomething 
f in it inexpreffibly fweet. You muft know I dined 
6 with her at a publick Table the Day after I firft 
c faw her, and fhe helped me to fome Tanfy in the 
c Eye of all the Gentlemen in the Country : She 
' has certainly the finefl Hand of any Woman in 
c the World. I can affure you, Sir, were you to 
c behold her, you would be in the fame Condition ; 
c for as her Speech is Mufick, her Form is An- 
c gelick. But I find I grow irregular while I am 
c talking of her ; but indeed it would be Stupidity 
< to be unconcerned at fuch Perfection. Oh the 



Sir Roger in hove. 65 

f excellent Creature ! me is as inimitable to all 
c Women, as me is inacceflible to all Men.' 

I found my Friend begin to rave, and infenfibly 
led him towards the Houfe, that we might be joined 
by fome other Company ; and am convinced that 
the Widow is the fecret Caufe of all that Inconfif- 
tency which appears in fome Parts of my Friend's 
Difcourfe ; though he has fo much Command of 
himfelf as not directly to mention her, yet accord- 
ing to that of Martial, which one knows not how 
to render into Englijh, Dum tacet hanc loquitur. I 
mall end this Paper with that whole Epigram, 
which reprefents with much Humour my honefl 
Friend's Condition. 

Qui c quid agit Rufus, nihil eft, nifi Nee via Rufo, 
Si gaudet,fi flet,fi tacet, banc loquitur : 

Ccenat, propinat, pofcit, negat, annuit, una eft 
Navia y Si non fit Ntevia, mutus erit. 

Scriberet heft em a Patri cum Luce Salutem, 
Ncevia lux, inquit, Navia numen, ave. 

Let Rufus weep, rejoice, fland, lit, or walk, 
Still he can nothing but of Navia talk ; 
Let him eat, drink, afk Queftions, or difpute, 
Still he mull fpeak of Navia, or be mute, 
He writ to his Father, ending with this Line, 
I am, my lovely Ncevia, ever thine. 





CHAP. IX. 

The Coverley GEconomy. 

Pauper tat is pudor & fug a . H o R . 

'ECONOMY in our Affairs has the 
fame Effect upon our Fortunes which 
Good-breeding has upon our Conver- 
fations. There is a pretending Behaviour in both 
Cafes, which, inftead of making Men efteemed, 
renders them both miferable and contemptible. 
We had Yefterday at Sir Roger's a Set of Coun- 
try Gentlemen who dined with him : and after 
Dinner the Glafs was taken, by thofe who pleafed, 
pretty plentifully. Among others I obferved a 
Perfon of a tolerable good Afpect, who feemed to 
be more greedy of Liquor than any of the Com- 
pany, and yet, methought, he did not tafte it with 
Delight. As he grew warm, he was fufpicious of 
every thing that was faid ; and as he advanced to- 
wards being fuddled, his Humour grew worfe. At 



The Cover ley (Economy. 67 

the fame time his Bitternefs feemed to be rather an 
inward Diffatisfaclion in his own Mind, than any 
Diflike he had taken to the Company. Upon 
hearing his Name, I knew him to be a Gentleman 
of a considerable Fortune in this County, but 
greatly in Debt. What gives the unhappy Man 
this Peevifhnefs of Spirit, is, that his Eftate is 
dipped, and is eating out with Ufury ; and yet he 
has not the Heart to fell any Part of it. His proud 
Stomach, at the Coft of reftlefs Nights, conftant 
Inquietudes, Danger of Affronts, and a thoufand 
namelefs Inconveniences, preferves this Canker in 
his Fortune, rather than it mail be faid he is a 
Man of fewer Hundreds a Year than he has been 
commonly reputed. Thus he endures the Tor- 
ment of Poverty, to avoid the Name of being lefs 
rich. If you go to his Houfe you fee great Plenty ; 
but ferved in a Manner that mows it is all unna- 
tural, and that the Matter's Mind is not at Home. 
There is a certain Wafte and Carelefihefs in the 
Air of every thing, and the whole appears but a 
covered Indigence, a magnificent Poverty. That 
Neatnefs and Chearfulnefs which attends the Table 
of him who lives within Compafs, is wanting, and 
exchanged for a Libertine Way of Service in all 
about him. 

THIS Gentleman's Conduct, though a very 



68 The Cover ley (Economy. 

common way of Management, is as ridiculous as 
that Officer's would be, who had but few Men un- 
der his Command, and mould take the Charge of 
an Extent of Country rather than of a fmall Pafs. 
To pay for, perfonate, and keep in a Man's Hands, 
a greater Eftate than he really has, is of all others 
the moft unpardonable Vanity, and muft in the 
End reduce the Man who is guilty of it to Difho- 
nour. Yet if we look round us in any County of 
Great Britain, we mail fee many in this fatal Error ; 
if that may be called by fo foft a Name, which 
proceeds from a falfe Shame of appearing what 
they really are, when the contrary Behaviour would 
in a fhort time advance them to the Condition 
which they pretend to. 

LAERTES has fifteen hundred Pounds a Year ; 
which is mortgaged for fix thoufand Pounds ; but 
it is impoflible to convince him that if he fold as 
much as would pay off that Debt, he would fave 
four Shillings in the Pound, which he gives for 
the Vanity of being the reputed Matter of it. Yet 
if Laertes did this, he would perhaps be eafier in 
his own Fortune ; but then Irus> a Fellow of Yef- 
terday, who has but twelve hundred a Year, would 
be his Equal. Rather than this mail be, Laertes 
goes on to bring well-born Beggars into the World, 
and every Twelvemonth charges his Eftate with 



The Cover ley (Economy. 69 

at leaft one Year's Rent more by the Birth of a 
Child. 

LAERTES and Irus are Neighbours, whofe 
Way of living are an Abomination to each other. 
Irus is moved by the Fear of Poverty, and La- 
ertes by the Shame of it. Though the Motive of 
Action is of fo near Affinity in both, and may be 
refolved into this, "That to each of them Poverty 
" is the greater!: of all Evils," yet are their Manners 
very widely different. Shame of Poverty makes 
Laertes lanch into unneceflary Equipage, vain Ex- 
pence, and lavifh Entertainments ; Fear of Po- 
verty makes Irus allow himfelf only plain Necef- 
faries, appear without a Servant, fell his own Corn, 
attend his Labourers, and be himfelf a Labourer. 
Shame of Poverty makes Laertes go every Day a 
Step nearer to it, and Fear of Poverty ftirs up 
Irus to make every Day fome further Progrefs 
from it. 

THESE different Motives produce the ExcefTes 
which Men are guilty of in the Negligence of and 
Provision for themfelves. Ufury, Stock-jobbing, 
Extortion and Oppreffion, have their Seed in the 
Dread of Want; and Vanity, Riot and Prodigality, 
from the Shame of it : But both thefe ExcefTes are 
infinitely below the Purfuit of a reafonable Crea- 
ture. After we have taken care to command fo 



jo The Cover ley (Economy. 

much as is neceflary for maintaining ourfelves in 
the Order of Men fuitable to our Character, the 
Care of Superfluities is a Vice no lefs extravagant, 
than the Neglect of NecerTaries would have been 
before. 

IT would methinks be no ill Maxim of Life, if 
according to that Anceftor of Sir Roger, whom I 
lately mentioned, every Man would point to him- 
felf what Sum he would refolve not to exceed. 
He might by this means cheat himfelf into a Tran- 
quillity on this Side of that Expectation, or con- 
vert what he mould get above it to nobler Ufes 
than his own Pleafures or Neceflities. 

IT is porlible that the Tranquillity I now enjoy 
at Sir Roger's may have created in me this way of 
thinking, which is fo abftracted from the common 
Relim of the World : But as I am now in a 
pleafing Arbour furrounded with a beautiful Land- 
ikip, I find no Inclination fo ftrong as to continue 
in thefe Manfions, fo remote from the oftentatious 
Scenes of Life ; and am at this prefent Writing 
Philofopher enough to conclude with Mr. Cowley, 

If e'er Ambition did my Fancy cheat, 
With any Wijh fo mean as to be Great ; 
Continue, Heaven, fill from me to remove 
The humble Bleffings of that Life I love ! 




CHAP. X. 

The Coverley Hunt. 

Utjit Mens fana in Cor pore fano. Juv. 

*AD not Exercife been abfolutely ne- 
cefTary for our Well-being, Nature 
would not have made the Body fo 
proper for it, by giving fuch an Activity to the 
Limbs, and fuch a Pliancy to every Part as necef- 
farily produce thofe Compreffions, Exteniions, Con- 




J 2 The Cover ley Hunt. 

tortions, Dilatations, and all other kinds of Motions 
that are necefTary for the prefervation of fuch a 
Syftem of Tubes and Glands as has been before 
mentioned. And that we might not want Induce- 
ments to engage us in fuch an Exercife of the 
Body as is proper for its Welfare, it is fo ordered 
that nothing valuable can be procured without it. 
Not to mention Riches and Honour, even Food 
and Raiment are not to be come at without the 
Toil of the Hands and Sweat of the Brows. Pro- 
vidence furnifhes Materials, but expects that we 
mould work them up our felves. The Earth muft 
be laboured before it gives its Increafe, and when 
it is forced into its feveral Products, how many 
Hands muft they pafs through before they are fit 
for Ufe ? Manufactures, Trade, and Agriculture, 
naturally employ more than nineteen Parts of the 
Species in twenty ; and as for thofe who are not 
obliged to labour, by the Condition in which they 
are born, they are more miferable than the reft of 
Mankind, unlefs they indulge themfelves in that 
voluntary Labour which goes by the Name of 
Exercife. 

MY Friend Sir Roger has been an indefatigable 
Man in Bufinefs of this kind, and has hung feveral 
Parts of his Houfe with the Trophies of his for- 
mer Labours. The Walls of his great Hall are 



The Cover ley Hunt. 73 



covered with the Horns of feveral kinds of Deer 
that he has killed in the Chace, which he thinks 
the moft valuable Furniture of his Houfe, as they 
afford him frequent Topicks of Difcourfe, and 
mow that he has not been idle. At the lower 
End of the Hall is a large Otter's Skin fluffed with 
Hay, which his Mother ordered to be hung up in 
that manner, and the Knight looks upon with great 
Satisfaction, becaufe it feems he was but nine Years 
old when his Dog killed him. A little Room ad- 
joining to the Hall is a kind of Arfenal filled with 
Guns of feveral Sizes and Inventions, with which 
the Knight has made great Havock in the Woods, 
and deflroyed many thoufands of Pheafants, Par- 
tridges and Woodcocks. His Stable Doors are 
patched with Nofes that belonged to Foxes of the 
Knight's own hunting down. Sir Roger mowed 
me one of them that for Diftinction fake has a 
Brafs Nail flruck through it, which coft him about 
fifteen Hours riding, carried him through half a 
Dozen Counties, killed him a Brace of Geldings, 
and loft above half his Dogs. This the Knight 
looks upon as one of the greater! Exploits of his 
Life. The perverfe Widow, whom I have given 
fome Account of, was the Death of feveral Foxes ; 
for Sir Roger has told me that in the Courfe of 
his Amours he patched the Weftern Door of his 

Q 



74 The Coverley Hunt. 

Stable. Whenever the Widow was cruel, the 
Foxes were fure to pay for it. In Proportion as 
his ParTion for the Widow abated and old Age came 
on, he left off Fox-hunting ; but a Hare is not 
yet fafe that fits within ten Miles of his Houfe. 

AFTER what has been faid, I need not inform 
my Readers, that Sir Roger, with whofe Character 
I hope they are at prefent pretty well acquainted, 
has in his Youth gone through the whole Courfe 
of thofe rural Diverfions which the Country abounds 
in ; and which feem to be extremely well fuited 
to that laborious Induftry a Man may obferve here 
in a far greater Degree than in Towns and Cities. 
I have before hinted at fome of my Friend's Ex- 
ploits : He has in his youthful Days taken forty 
Coveys of Partridges in a Seafon ; and tired many 
a Salmon with a Line confiding but of a fingle Hair. 
The conftant Thanks and good Wifhes of the 
Neighbourhood always attended him, on account 
of his remarkable Enmity towards Foxes ; having 
deftroyed more of thofe Vermin in one Year, than 
it was thought the whole Country could have pro- 
duced. Indeed the Knight does not fcruple to 
own among his moft intimate Friends, that in or- 
der to eftablifh his Reputation this Way, he has 
fecretly fent for great Numbers of them out of 
other Counties, which he ufed to turn loofe about 



The Cover ley Hunt. j $ 

the Country by Night, that he might the better 
fignalize himfelf in their Deftruction the next Day. 
His Hunting-Horfes were the fineft and bed ma- 
naged in all thefe Parts : His Tenants are ftill full 
of the Praifes of a gray Stone-horfe that unhappily 
flaked himfelf feveral Years fince, and was buried 
with great Solemnity in the Orchard. 

SIR ROGER, being at prefent too old for Fox- 
hunting, to keep himfelf in Action, has difpofed 
of his Beagles and got a Pack of Stop-hounds. What 
thefe want in Speed, he endeavours to make amends 
for by the Deepnefs of their Mouths and the Va- 
riety of their Notes, which are fuited in fuch man- 
ner to each other, that the whole Cry makes up a 
complete Confort. He is fo nice in this Particular, 
that a Gentleman having made him a Prefent of a 
very fine Hound the other Day, the Knight re- 
turned it by the Servant with a great many Ex- 
preffions of Civility ; but defired him to tell his 
Matter, that the Dog he had fent was indeed a 
moft excellent Bafs but that at prefent he only 
wanted a Count er-'Tenor. Could I believe my Friend 
had ever read S/iakefpeare, I mould certainly con- 
clude he had taken the Hint from Tkefeus in the 
Midfummer Night's Dream. 

My Hounds are bred out of the Spartan Kind, 
So flu'd, fo fanded , and their Heads are hung 



76 The Cover ley Hunt. 

With Ears that fweep away the Morning Dew. 
Crook-kneed and dew-lap 1 d like ThefTalian Bulls. 
Slow in Purfuit, but matcFd in Mouths like Bells, 
Each under each : A Cry more tuneable 
Was never hollowed to, nor chear'd with Horn. 

SIR ROGER is fo keen at this Sport, that he 
has been out almoft every Day fince I came down ; 
and upon the Chaplain's offering to lend me his 
eafy Pad, I was prevailed on Yefterday Morning 
to make one of the Company. I was extremely 
pleafed, as we rid along, to obferve the general 
Benevolence of all the Neighbourhood towards my 
Friend. The Farmers Sons thought themfelves 
happy if they could open a Gate for the good old 
Knight as he panned by ; which he generally re- 
quited with a Nod or a Smile, and a kind Inquiry 
after their Fathers and Uncles. 

AFTER we had rid about a Mile from Home, 
we came upon a large Heath, and the Sportfmen 
began to beat. They had done fo for fome time, 
when, as I was at a little Diftance from the reft of 
the Company, I faw a Hare pop out from a fmall 
Furze-brake almoft under my Horfe's Feet. I 
marked the Way fhe took, which I endeavoured 
to make the Company feniible of by extending 
my Arm ; but to no purpofe, 'till Sir Roger, who 
knows that none of my extraordinary Motions are 



The Cover ley Hunt, jj 

infigniflcant, rode up to me, and afked me if Pufs 
was gone that Way ? Upon my anfwering Tes, 
he immediately called in the Dogs, and put them 
upon the Scent. As they were going off, I heard 
one of the Country-Fellows muttering to his Com- 
panion, That 'twas a Wonder they had not loft all 
their Sporty for want of the filent Gentleman's cry- 
ing STOLE AWAY. 

THIS, with my Averfion to leaping Hedges, 
made me withdraw to a rifing Ground, from whence 
I could have the Pleafure of the whole Chace, with- 
out the Fatigue of keeping in with the Hounds. 
The Hare immediately threw them above a Mile 
behind her ; but I was pleafed to find, that inftead 
of running ftraight forwards, or in Hunter's Lan- 
guage, Flying the Country , as I was afraid me might 
have done, me wheeled about, and defcribed a fort 
of Circle round the Hill where I had taken my 
Station, in fuch Manner as gave me a very dif- 
tinct View of the Sport. I could fee her firft pafs 
by, and the Dogs fometime afterwards unravelling 
the whole Track me had made, and following her 
through all her Doubles. I was at the fame time 
delighted in obferving that Deference which the 
reft of the Pack paid to each particular Hound, 
according to the Character he had acquired amongft 
them : If they were at a Fault, and an old Hound 



j 8 The Cover ley Hunt. 

of Reputation opened but once, he was immediately 
followed by the whole Cry ; while a raw Dog, or 
one who was a noted Liar, might have yelped his 
Heart out, without being taken notice of. 

THE Hare now, after having fquatted two or 
three times, and been put up again as often, came 
ftill nearer to the Place where me was at firft 
ftarted. The Dogs purfued her, and thefe were fol- 
lowed by the jolly Knight, who rode upon a white 
Gelding, encompafTed by his Tenants and Ser- 
vants, and chearing his Hounds with all the Gaiety 
of Five and Twenty. One of the Sportfmen rode 
up to me, and told me, that he was fure the Chace 
was almoft at an end, becaufe the old Dogs, which 
had hitherto lain behind, now headed the Pack. 
The Fellow was in the right. Our Hare took a 
large Field juft under us followed by the full Cry 
in View. I muft confefs the Brightnefs of the 
Weather, the Chearfulnefs of every thing around 
me, the Chiding of the Hounds, which was re- 
turned upon us in a double Echo from two neigh- 
bouring Hills, with the Hollowing of the Sportf- 
men, and the Sounding of the Horn, lifted my 
Spirits into a moft lively Pleafure, which I freely 
indulged becaufe I was fure it was innocent. If I 
was under any Concern, it was on the account of 
the poor Hare, that was now quite fpent, and al- 



The Cover ley Hunt, 79 

moil within the reach of her Enemies ; when the 
Huntfman getting forward threw down his Pole 
before the Dogs. They were now within eight 
Yards of that Game which they had been purfuing 
for almoft as many Hours ; yet on the fignal be- 
fore-mentioned they all made a fudden Stand, and 
though they continued opening as much as before, 
durft not once attempt to pafs beyond the Pole. 
At the fame time Sir Roger rode forward, and 
alighting, took up the Hare in his Arms ; which 
he foon delivered up to one of his Servants with 
an Order, if fhe could be kept alive, to let her go 
in his great Orchard ; where it feems he has feveral 
of thefe Prifoners of War, who live together in a 
very comfortable Captivity. I was highly pleafed 
to fee the Difcipline of the Pack, and the Good- 
nature of the Knight, who could not find in his 
Heart to murder a Creature that had given him 
fo much Diversion. 

FOR my own part I intend to hunt twice a 
Week during my Stay with Sir Roger ; and mail 
prefcribe the moderate Ufe of this Exercife to all 
my Country Friends, as the befl kind of Phyfick 
for mending a bad Conftitution, and preferving a 
good one. 

I cannot do this better, than in the following 
Lines out of Mr. Dry den. 



80 The Cover ley Hunt. 

THE fir ft Phyficians by Debauch were made ; 
Excefs began, and Sloth fu ft ains the Trade. 
By Chace our long-lived Fathers earned their Food . 
Toil ftrung the Nerves, and purify' d the Blood; 
But we their Sons, a pampered Race of Men, 
Are dwindled down to threefcore Tears and ten. 
Better to hunt in Fields for Health unbought, 
Than fee the Doclor for a naufeous Draught. 
The Wife for Cure on Exercife depend : 
God never made his Work for Man to mend. 




CHAP. XI. 

The Coverley Witch, 

Ipjijlbi J "omnia fingunt . V I R G . 




IPtHERE are fome Opinions in which a 
5 > Man mould ftand Neuter, without en- 
gaging his AfTent to one fide or the 
other. Such a hovering Faith as this, which re- 
fufes to fettle upon any Determination, is abfo- 
lutely necerTary in a Mind that is careful to avoid 



82 The Cover ley Witch, 



Errors and PrepofTeflions. When the Arguments 
prefs equally on both fides in Matters that are in- 
different to us, the fafeft Method is to give up 
ourfelves to neither. 

IT is with this Temper of Mind that I confider 
the Subject of Witchcraft. When I hear the Re- 
lations that are made from all Parts of the World, 
not only from Norway and Lapland, from the 
Eaft and Weft-Indies, but from every particular 
Nation in Europe, I cannot forbear thinking that 
there is fuch an Intercourfe and Commerce with 
Evil Spirits, as that which we exprefs by the Name 
of Witchcraft. But when I confider that 'the ig- 
norant and credulous Parts of the World abound 
moft in thefe Relations, and that the Perfons among 
us, who are fuppofed to engage in fuch an infernal 
Commerce, are People of a weak Underftanding 
and crazed Imagination, and at the fame time reflect 
upon the many Impoftures and Delufions of this 
Nature that have been detected in all Ages, I en- 
deavour to fufpend my Belief till I hear more cer- 
tain Accounts than any which have yet come to my 
Knowledge. In fhort, when I confider the Quef- 
tion, whether there are fuch Perfons in the World 
as thofe we call Witches, my Mind is divided be- 
tween the two oppofite Opinions ; or rather (to 
fpeak my Thoughts freely) I believe in general 



The Cover ley Witch. 83 

that there is, and has been fuch a thing as Witch- 
craft ; but at the fame time can give no Credit to 
any particular Inftance of it. 

I am engaged in this Speculation, by fome Oc- 
currences that I met with Yefterday, which I mail 
give my Reader an Account of at large. As I was 
walking with my Friend Sir Roger by the fide of 
one of his Woods, an old Woman applied herfelf 
to me for my Charity. Her Drefs and Figure put 
me in mind of the following Defcription in Qtway. 

In a clofe Lane as I purfued my Journey, 
I fpfd a wrinkled Hag, with Age grown double, 
Picking dry Sticks, and mumbling to herfelf. 
Her Eyes with fc aiding Rheum were gaWd and red ; 
Cold Palfy Jhook her Head s her Hands feem'd withered ,■ 
And on her crooked Shoulders had fhe wrapped 
The tatter d Remnants of an old Jl ripe d Hanging, 
Which ferved to keep her Car cafe from the Cold: 
So there was nothing of a Piece about her. 
Her lower Weeds were all o'er coarfely patched 
With different coloured Rags, black, red, white, yellow, 
And feem'd to fpeak Variety of Wretchednefs. 

AS I was mufing on this Defcription, and com- 
paring it with the ObjecT: before me, the Knight 
told me, that this very old Woman had the Re- 
putation of a Witch all over the Country, that 
her Lips were obferved to be always in Motion, 
and that there was not a Switch about her Houfe 



84 The Cover ley Witch. 

which her Neighbours did not believe had carried 
her feveral hundreds of Miles. If fhe chanced to 
flumble, they always found Sticks or Straws that 
lay in the Figure of a Crofs before her. If fhe 
made any Miftake at Church, and cryed Amen in 
a wrong Place, they never failed to conclude that 
fhe was faying her Prayers backwards. There was 
not a Maid in the Parifh that would take a Pin 
of her, though fhe mould offer a Bag of Money 
with it. She goes by the Name of Moll White, 
and has made the Country ring with feveral ima- 
ginary Exploits which are palmed upon her. If 
the Dairy-maid does not make her Butter come fo 
foon as fhe fhould have it, Moll White is at the 
Bottom of the Churn. If a Horfe fweats in the 
Stable, Moll White has been upon his Back. If a 
Hare makes an unexpected Efcape from the Hounds, 
the Huntfman curfes Moll White. Nay, (fays Sir 
Roger) I have known the Matter of the Pack 
upon fuch an Occafion, fend one of his Servants 
to fee if Moll White has been out that Morning. 

THIS Account raifed my Curiofity fo far, that 
I begged my Friend Sir Roger to go with me 
into her Hovel, which flood in a folitary Corner 
under the fide of the Wood. Upon our fir ft en- 
tering Sir Roger winked to me, and pointed at 
fomething that flood behind the Door, which upon 



The Cover ley Witch. 85 

looking that Way, I found to be an old Broom- 
ftaff. At the fame time he whifpered me in the 
Ear to take notice of a Tabby Cat that fat in the 
Chimney-Corner, which, as the old Knight told 
me, lay under as bad a Report as Moll White her- 
felf ; for befides that Moll is faid often to accom- 
pany her in the fame Shape, the Cat is reported to 
have fpoken twice or thrice in her Life, and to 
have played feveral Pranks above the Capacity of 
an ordinary Cat. 

I was fecretly concerned to fee human Nature 
in fo much Wretchednefs and Difgrace, but at the 
fame time could not forbear fmiling to hear Sir 
Roger, who is a little puzzled about the old Wo- 
man, advifing her as a Juftice of Peace to avoid 
all Communication with the Devil, and never to 
hurt any of her Neighbour's Cattle. We concluded 
our Vifit with a Bounty, which was very accept- 
able. 

IN our Return home, Sir Roger told me, that 
old Moll had been often brought before him for 
making Children fpit Pins, and giving Maids the 
Night-Mare ; and that the Country People would 
be tofling her into a Pond and trying Experiments 
with her every Day, if it was not for him and his 
Chaplain. 

I have fince found upon Inquiry, that Sir Roger 



86 The Cover ley Witch. 

was feveral times ftaggered with the Reports that 
had been brought him concerning this old Woman, 
and would frequently have bound her over to the 
County Seflions had not his Chaplain with much 
ado perfuaded him to the contrary. 

I have been the more particular in this Account, 
becaufe I hear there is fcarce a Village in England 
that has not a Moll White in it. When an old 
Woman begins to dote, and grow chargeable to a 
Parifh, me is generally turned into a Witch, and 
fills the whole Country with extravagant Fancies, 
imaginary Diftempers and terrifying Dreams. In 
the mean time, the poor Wretch that is the inno- 
cent Occafion of fo many Evils begins to be frighted 
at herielf, and fometimes confeffes fecret Commerce 
and Familiarities that her Imagination forms in a 
delirious old Age. This frequently cuts off Cha- 
rity from the greater! Objects of Companion, and 
infpires People with a Malevolence towards thofe 
poor decrepid Parts of our Species, in whom hu- 
man Nature is defaced by Infirmity and Dotage. 




CHAP. XII. 

A Coverley Love Match. 

Haret later i Icthalis arundo. Virg. 

HIS agreeable Seat is furrounded with 
fo many pi earing Walks which are 
{truck out of a Wood in the midft of 
which the Houfe {lands, that one can hardly ever be 
weary of rambling from one labyrinth of Delight 
to another. To one ufed to live in a City the 




88 A Cover ley Love Match. 

Charms of the Country are fo exquifite, that the 
Mind is loft in a certain Tranfport which raifes us 
above ordinary Life, and is yet not ftrong enough 
to be inconfiftent with Tranquillity. This State 
of Mind was I in, ravifhed with the Murmur of 
Waters, the Whifper of Breezes, the Singing of 
Birds ; and whether I looked up to the Heavens, 
down on the Earth, or turned on the Profpects 
around me, ftill ftruck with new Senfe of Pleafure ; 
when I found by the Voice of my Friend, who 
walked by me, that we had infenfibly ftrolled into 
the Grove facred to the Widow. This Woman, 
fays he, is of all others the moft unintelligible; 
me either defigns to marry, or fhe does not. What 
is the moft perplexing of all, is, that fhe doth not 
either fay to her Lovers fhe has any Refolution 
againft that Condition of Life in general, or that 
fhe banifhes them ; but confcious of her own Me- 
rit, fhe permits their AddrefTes without fear of any 
ill Confequence, or want of Refpect, from their 
Rage or Defpair. She has that in her Afpecl, 
againft which it is impoflible to offend. A Man 
whofe Thoughts are conftantly built upon fo agree- 
able an Object, muft be excufed if the ordinary 
Occurrences in Converfation are below his Atten- 
tion. I call her indeed perverfe, but, alas ! why 
do I call her fo ? Becaufe her fuperior Merit is 



A Cover ley Love Match. 89 

fuch, that I cannot approach her without Awe, 
that my Heart is checked by too much Efteem : 
I am angry that her Charms are not more accef- 
fible, that I am more inclined to worfhip than fa- 
lute her : How often have I wifhed her unhappy 
that I might have an Opportunity of ferving her ? 
and how often troubled in that very Imagination, 
at giving her the Pain of being obliged ? Well I 
have led a miferable Life in fecret upon her Ac- 
count ; but fancy fhe would have condefcended to 
have fome regard for me, if it had not been for 
that watchful Animal her Confidant. 

OF all Perfons under the Sun (continued he, 
calling me by my Name) be fure to fet a Mark 
upon Confidants : they are of all People the mofl: 
impertinent. What is mofl pleafant to obferve in 
them, is, that they afTume to themfelves the Merit 
of the Perfons whom they have in their Cuftody. 
Oreftilla is a great Fortune, and in wonderful 
Danger of Surprifes, therefore full of Sufpicions of 
the leaf! indifferent thing, particularly careful of 
new Acquaintance, and of growing too familiar 
with the old. 'fhemifta, her favourite- Woman, is 
every whit as careful of whom fhe fpeaks to, and 
what me fays. Let the Ward be a Beauty, her 
Confident mail treat you with an Air of Diftance ; 
let her be a Fortune, and fhe afTumes the fufpicious 



90 A Cover ley Love Match. 

Behaviour of her Friend and Patronefs. Thus it 
is that very many of our unmarried Women of 
Diftinction are to all Intents and Purpofes married, 
except the Confideration of different Sexes. They 
are directly under the Conduct of their Whifperer ; 
and think they are in a State of Freedom, while 
they can prate with one of thefe Attendants of all 
Men in general, and ftill avoid the Man they moft 
like. You do not fee one Heirefs in a hundred 
whofe Fate does not turn upon this Circumftance 
of choofing a Confidant. Thus it is that the Lady 
is addreffed to, prefented and flattered, only by 
Proxy, in her Woman. In my cafe, how is it pof- 

fible that 

Sir Roger was proceeding in his Harangue, 
when we heard the Voice of one fpeaking very im- 
portunately, and repeating thefe Words, ' What, 
c not one Smile ?' We followed the Sound till we 
came to a clofe Thicket, on the other fide of 
which we faw a young Woman fitting as it were 
in a perfonated Sullennefs jurt over a tranfparent 
Fountain. Oppofite to her flood Mr. William, 
Sir Roger's Matter of the Game. The Knight 
whifpered me, c Hift, thefe are Lovers/ The 
Huntfman looking earneftly at the Shadow of the 
young Maiden in the Stream, c Oh thou dear Pic- 
c ture, if thou couldft remain there in the Abfence 



A Cover ley Love Match, 91 

c of that fair Creature, whom you reprefent in the 
c Water, how willingly could I ftand here fatisfied 
c for ever, without troubling my dear Betty herfelf 
c with any Mention of her unfortunate William, 
c whom fhe is angry with : But alas ! when me 

c pleafes to be gone, thou wilt alfo vanifh 

c Yet let me talk to thee while thou doft flay. 
c Tell my deareft Betty thou doft not more depend 
c upon her, than does her William : Her Abfence 
c will make away with me as well as thee. If fhe 
c offers to remove thee, I'll jump into thefe Waves 
c to lay hold on thee ; herfelf, her own dear Perfon, 

c I muft never embrace again. Still do you 

c hear me without one Smile It is too much to 

c bear ' He had no fooner fpoke thefe Words 

but he made an Offer of throwing himfelf into the 
Water : At which his Miftrefs ftarted up, and at 
the next Inftant he jumped acrofs the Fountain and 
met her in an Embrace. She half recovering from 
her Fright, faid in the moft charming Voice ima- 
ginable, and with a Tone of Complaint, f c I thought 
" how well you would drown yourfelf. No, no, 
"you won't drown yourfelf till you have taken 
<c your leave of Sufan Holiday." The Huntfman, 
with a Tendernefs that fpoke the moft paflionate 
Love, and with his Cheek clofe to hers, whifpered 
the fofteft Vows of Fidelity in her Ear, and cryed, 



92 A Cover ley Love Match. 

f Don't, my Dear, believe a Word Kate Willow 
c fays ; fhe is fpiteful and makes Stories, becaufe 
c fhe loves to hear me talk to herfelf for your fake.' 

Look you there, quoth Sir Roger, do you fee 
there, all Mifchief comes from Confidants ! But 
let us not interrupt them ; the Maid is honeft, and 
the Man dares not be otherwife, for he knows I 
loved her Father : I will interpofe in this Matter, 
and haften the Wedding. Kate Willow is a witty 
mifchievous Wench in the Neighbourhood, who 
was a Beauty ; and makes me hope I fhall fee the 
perverfe Widow in her Condition. She was fo 
flippant with her Anfwers to all the honeft Fellows 
that came near her, and fo very vain of her Beauty, 
that fhe has valued herfelf upon her Charms till 
they are ceafed. She therefore now makes it her 
Bufinefs to prevent other young Women from be- 
ing more Difcreet than fhe was herfelf : However, 
the faucy thing faid the other Day well enough, 
c Sir Roger and I muft make a Match, for we are 
c both defpifed by thofe we loved : ' The Huffy 
has a great deal of Power wherever fhe comes, and 
has her Share of Cunning. 

HOWEVER, when I reflecl; upon this Woman, 
I do not know whether in the main I am the worfe 
for having loved her : Whenever fhe is recalled to 
my Imagination my Youth returns, and I feel a 



A Cover ley Love Match, 93 

forgotten Warmth in my Veins. This Affliction 
in my Life has {freaked all my Conduct with a 
Softnefs, of which I mould otherwife have been in- 
capable. It is, perhaps, to this dear Image in my 
Heart owing, that I am apt to relent, that I eafily 
forgive, and that many defirable things are grown 
into my Temper, which I mould not have arrived 
at by better Motives than the Thought of being 
one Day hers. I am pretty well fatisfied fuch a 
Paffion as I have had is never well cured ; and be- 
tween you and me, I am often apt to imagine it 
has had fome whimfical Effect upon my Brain : 
For I frequently find, that in my moft ferious Dif- 
courfe I let fall fome comical Familiarity of Speech 
or odd Phrafe that makes the Company laugh ; 
However, I cannot but allow me is a moft excellent 
Woman. When me is in the Country I warrant 
me does not run into Dairies, but reads upon the 
Nature of Plants ; but has a Glafs Hive, and comes 
into the Garden out of Books to fee them work, 
and obferve the Policies of their Commonwealth. 
She underftands every thing. I'd give ten Pounds 
to hear her argue with my Friend Sir Andrew 
Freeport about Trade. No, no, for all fhe looks 
fo innocent as it were, take my Word for it me is 
no Fool. 





CHAP. XIII. 

The Coverley Etiquette. 

Urbem quam dicunt Romam, Melibcee, putwvi 
Stultus ego huic noftr a: fimilem. Virg. 

'HE firft and moft obvious Reflexions 
which arife in a Man who changes the 
City for the Country, are upon the dif- 
ferent Manners of the People whom he meets with 
in thofe two different Scenes of Life. By Man- 
ners I do not mean Morals, but Behaviour and 
Good-breeding as they fhow themfelves in the 
Town and in the Country. 

AND here, in the firft place, I muft obferve a 
very great Revolution that has happened in this 
Article of Good-breeding. Several obliging De- 
ferences, Condefcenfions and Submiflions, with 
many outward Forms and Ceremonies that accom- 
pany them, were firft of all brought up among the 
politer Part of Mankind, who lived in Courts and 
Cities, and diftinguifhed themfelves from the Ruf- 



The Cover ley Etiquette. 95 

tick part of the Species (who on all Occafions acted 
bluntly and naturally) by fuch a mutual Complai- 
fance and Intercourfe of Civilities. Thefe Forms 
of Converfation by degrees multiplied and grew 
troublefome ; the modifh World found too great a 
Conftraint in them, and have therefore thrown moil 
of them afide. Converfation, like the Romijh Re- 
ligion, was fo encumbered with Show and Cere- 
mony, that it ftood in need of a Reformation to 
retrench its Superfluities, and reftore it to its na- 
tural good Senfe and Beauty. At prefent there- 
fore an unconftrained Carriage, and a certain Open- 
nefs of Behaviour, are the height of Good-breeding. 
The fafhionable World is grown free and eafy ; 
our Manners fit more loofe upon us : Nothing is 
fo modifh as an agreeable Negligence. In a word, 
Good-breeding fhews itfelf moft, where to an or- 
dinary Eye it appears the lean 1 . 

IF after this we look on the People of Mode in 
the Country, we find in them the Manners of the 
laft Age. They have no fooner fetched themfelves 
up to the Faihion of the polite World, but the 
Town has dropped them, and are nearer to the 
firft: State of Nature than to thofe Refinements 
which formerly reigned in the Court, and ftill pre- 
vail in the Country. One may now know a Man 
that never converfed in the World, by his Excefs 



g6 The Cover ley Etiquette. 



of Good-breeding. A polite Country 'Squire mall 
make you as many Bows in half an Hour, as would 
ferve a Courtier for a Week. There is infinitely 
more to do about Place and Precedency in a Meet- 
ing of Juftices Wives, than in an AfTembly of 
DutcherTes. 

THIS Rural Politenefs is very troublefome to 
a Man of my Temper, who generally take the 
Chair that is next me, and walk firft or laft, in the 
Front or in the Rear, as Chance directs. I have 
known my Friend Sir Roger's Dinner almoft cold 
before the Company could adjuft the Ceremonial, 
and be prevailed upon to fit down ; and have 
heartily pitied my old Friend, when I have {ecn 
him forced to pick and cull his Guefts, as they fat 
at the feveral Parts of his Table, that he might 
drink their Healths according to their refpective 
Ranks and Qualities. Honeft Will Wimble, who 
I mould have thought had been altogether unin- 
fected with Ceremony, gives me abundance of 
Trouble in this Particular. Though he has been 
fifhing all the Morning, he will not help himfelf 
at Dinner 'till I am ferved. When we are going 
out of the Hall, he runs behind me ; and laft 
Night, as we were walking in the Fields, flopped 
fhort at a Stile 'till I came up to it, and upon my 
making Signs to him to get over, told me, with a 



The Coverley Etiquette. 97 

ferious Smile, that fure I believed they had no 
Manners in the Country. 

THERE has happened another Revolution in 
the Point of Good-breeding, which relates to the 
Converfation among Men of Mode, and which I 
cannot but look upon as very extraordinary. It 
was certainly one of the firft Diftinctions of a well- 
bred Man, to exprefs every thing that had the mod 
remote Appearance of being obfcene, in modeft 
Terms and diftant Phrafes ; whilft the Clown, who 
had no fuch Delicacy of Conception and Expreffion, 
clothed his Ideas in thofe plain homely Terms that 
are the moft obvious and natural. This kind of 
Good-manners was perhaps carried to an Excefs, 
fo as to make Converfation too ftifF, formal, and 
precife : for which Reafon (as Hypocrify in one 
Age is generally fucceeded by Atheifm in another) 
Converfation is in a great meafure relapfed into 
the firft Extreme ; fo that at prefent feveral of our 
Men of the Town, and particularly thofe who 
have been polifhed in France, make ufe of the 
moft coarfe uncivilized Words in our Language, 
and utter themfelves often in fuch a manner as a 
Clown would blufh to hear. 

THIS infamous Piece of Good-breeding, which 
reigns among the Coxcombs of the Town, has not 
yet made its way into the Country ; and as it is 



98 The Coverley Etiquette. 

impoflible for fuch an irrational way of Converfa- 
tion to laft long among a People that make any 
Profeffion of Religion, or Show of Modefty, if the 
Country Gentlemen get into it they will certainly 
be left in the lurch. Their Good-breeding will 
come too late to them, and they will be thought a 
Parcel of lewd Clowns, while they fancy themfelves 
talking together like Men of Wit and Pleafure. 

AS the two Points of Good-breeding which I 
have hitherto infifted upon, regard Behaviour and 
Converfation, there is a third which turns upon 
Drefs. In this too the Country are very much 
behind-hand. The Rural Beaus are not yet got 
out of the Fafhion that took place at the time of 
the Revolution, but ride about the Country in red 
Coats and laced Hats, while the Women in many 
Parts are frill trying to outvie one another in the 
Height of their Head-drefles. 





CHAP. XIV. 

The Coverley Ducks. 

Equidem credo, quia Jit Divinitus litis 
Ingenium. Virg. 

Y Friend Sir Roger is very often merry 
with me upon my pafTing fo much of 
my time among his Poultry. He has 
caught me twice or thrice looking after a Bird's 
Neftj and feveral times fitting an Hour or two to- 
gether near an Hen and Chickens. He tells me 
he believes I am perfonally acquainted with every 
Fowl about his Houfe ; calls fuch a particular Cock 
my Favourite, and frequently complains that his 
Ducks and Gcq{q have more of my Company than 
himfelf. 

I mufl confefs I am infinitely delighted with 
thofe Speculations of Nature which are to be made 
in a Country-Life ; and as my Reading has very 
much lain among Books of Natural Hiftory, I can- 
not forbear recollecting upon this Occafion the fe- 



ioo The Cover ley Ducks. 

veral Remarks which I have met with in Authors, 
and comparing them with what falls under my 
own Obfervation : The Arguments for Providence 
drawn from the natural Hiftory of Animals being 
in my Opinion demonftrative. 

IT is aftoniming to confider the different De- 
grees of Care that defcend from the Parent to the 
Young, fo far as is abfolutely neceffary for the leav- 
ing a Posterity. Some Creatures caft their Eggs as 
Chance directs them, and think of them no farther, 
as Infects and feveral Kinds of Fifh ; others of a 
nicer Frame, find out proper Beds to depofit them 
in, and there leave them ; as the Serpent, the Cro- 
codile and the Oftrich : Others hatch their Eggs 
and tend the Birth, 'till it is able to fhift for itfelf. 

WHAT can we call the Principle which directs 
every different kind of Bird to obferve a particular 
Plan in the Structure of its Neft, and direct all 
the fame Species to work after the fame Model ? 
It cannot be Imitation ; for though you hatch a 
Crow under a Hen, and never let it fee any of the 
Works of its own Kind, the Neffc it makes mall 
be the fame to the laying of a Stick, with all the 
other Nefts of the fame Species. It cannot be 
Reafon ; for were Animals indued with it to as 
great a Degree as Man, their Buildings would 
be as different as ours, according to the different 



The Cover ley Ducks. 101 

Conveniences that they would propofe to them- 
felves. 

IS it not remarkable, that the fame Temper of 
Weather, which raifes this genial Warmth in Ani- 
mals, mould cover the Trees with Leaves, and the 
Fields with Grafs, for their Security and Conceal- 
ment, and produce fuch infinite Swarms of Infects 
for the Support and Suftenance of their refpective 
Broods ? 

IS it not wonderful that the Love of the Parent 
mould be fo violent while it lafts, and that it mould 
laft no longer than is neceffary for the Prefervation 
of the Young ? 

WITH what Caution does the Hen provide 
herfelf a Neft in Places unfrequented, and free from 
Noife and Disturbance ? When me has laid her 
Eggs in fuch a Manner, that me can cover them, 
what Care does me take in turning them frequently, 
that all Parts may partake of the vital Warmth ? 
When me leaves them, to provide for her neceiTary 
Suftenance, how punctually does me return before 
they have time to cool, and become incapable of 
producing an Animal ? In the Summer you fee 
her giving herfelf greater Freedoms, and quitting 
her Care for above two Hours together ; but in 
Winter, when the Rigour of the Seafon would 
chill the Principles of Life, and deftroy the young 



102 The Cover ley Ducks. 



one, fhe grows more affiduous in her Attendance, 
and flays away but half the Time. When the 
Birth approaches, with how much Nicety and At- 
tention does fhe help the Chick to break its Prifon ? 
Not to take notice of her covering it from the In- 
juries of the Weather, providing it proper Nou- 
rifhment, and teaching it to help itfelf ; nor to 
mention her forfaking the Nefl, if after the ufual 
Time of reckoning the young one does not 
make its Appearance. A Chymical Operation 
could not be followed with greater Art or Dili- 
gence, than is feen in the hatching of a Chick ; 
though there are many other Birds that mow an 
infinitely greater Sagacity in all the forementioned 
Particulars. 

BUT at the fame time the Hen, that has all 
this feeming Ingenuity, (which is indeed abfolutely 
necefTary for the Propagation of the Species) 
confidered in other refpects, is without the leafl 
Glimmerings of Thought or common Senfe. She 
miftakes a Piece of Chalk for an Egg, and fits 
upon it in the fame manner : She is infenfible of 
any Increafe or Diminution in the Number of thofe 
fhe lays : She does not diftinguifh between her own 
and thofe of another Species ; and when the Birth 
appears of never fo different a Bird, will cherifh it 
for her own. In all thefe Circumftances which do 



The Cover ley Ducks. 103 

not carry an immediate Regard to the Sublicence 
of herfelf or her Species, me is a very Idiot. 

THERE is not, in my Opinion, any thing more 
myfterious in Nature than this Inftinct in Animals, 
which thus rifes above Reafon, and falls infinitely 
fhort of it. It cannot be accounted for by any 
Properties in Matter, and at the fame time works 
after fo odd a manner, that one cannot think it the 
Faculty of an intellectual Being. For my own 
part, I look upon it as upon the Principle of Gra- 
vitation in Bodies, which is not to be explained by 
any known Qualities inherent in the Bodies them- 
felves, nor from any Laws of Mechanifm, but, ac- 
cording to the beft Notions of the greater!: Philo- 
fophers, is an immediate Impreffion from the firft 
Mover, and the Divine Energy acting in the Crea- 
tures. 

AS I was walking this Morning in the great 
Yard that belongs to my Friend's Country-Houfe, 
I was wonderfully pleafed to fee the different 
Workings of Inftinct in a Hen followed by a Brood 
of Ducks. The Young, upon the fight of a Pond, 
immediately ran into it ; while the Step-mother, 
with all imaginable Anxiety, hovered about the 
Borders of it, to call them out of an Element that 
appeared to her fo dangerous and deftructive. As 
the different Principle which acted in thefe different 



104 The Cover ley Ducks. 

Animals cannot be termed Reafon, fo when we 
call it InftincJ, we mean fomething we have no 
Knowledge of. To me, as I hinted in my laft 
Paper, it feems the immediate Direction of Provi- 
dence, and fuch an Operation of the fupreme Be- 
ing, as that which determines all the Portions of 
Matter to their proper Centres. A modern Phi- 
lofopher, quoted by Monfieur Bayle in his learned 
DirTertation on the Souls of Brutes, delivers the 
fame Opinion, though in a bolder Form of Words, 
where he fays, Deus eft Anima Brutorum, God him- 
felf is the Soul of Brutes. Who can tell what to 
call that feeming Sagacity in Animals, which directs 
them to fuch Food as is proper for them, and 
makes them naturally avoid whatever is noxious 
or unwholefom ? Tully has obferved, that a Lamb 
no fooner falls from its Mother, but immediately 
and of his own accord applies itfelf to the Teat. 
Dumpier, in his Travels, tells us, that when Sea- 
men are thrown upon any of the unknown Coafts 
of America, they never venture upon the Fruit of 
any Tree, how tempting foever it may appear, 
unlefs they obferve that it is marked with the 
Pecking of Birds ; but fall on without any Fear or 
Apprehenfion where the Birds have been before 
them. 





CHAP. XV. 

Sir Roger on the Bench. 

Comes jucundus in via pro <vehiculo eft. Publ. 

MAN'S firft Care mould be to avoid 
the Reproaches of his own Heart ; his 
next; to efcape the Cenfures of the 
World : If the laft interferes with the former, it 
ought to be intirely neglected ; but otherwife there 
cannot be a greater Satisfaction to an honefl Mind, 
than to fee thofe Approbations which it gives itfelf 
feconded by the Applaufes of the Publick : A 
Man is more fure of his Conduct, when the Ver- 
dict which he pafTes upon his own Behaviour is 
thus warranted and confirmed by the Opinion of 
all that know him. 

MY worthy Friend Sir Roger is one of thofe 
who is not only at Peace within himfelf, but be- 
loved and efteemed by all about him. He receives 
a fuitable Tribute for his univerfal Benevolence to 



io6 Sir Roger on the Bench. 



Mankind, in the Returns of Affection and Good- 
will, which are paid him by every one that lives 
within his Neighbourhood. I lately met with two 
or three odd Inftances of that general Refpect which 
is fhewn to the good old Knight. He would needs 
carry Will Wimble and myfelf with him to the 
County Amzes : As we were upon the Road Will 
Wimble joined a couple of plain Men who rid be- 
fore us, and converfed with them for fome time ; 
during which my Friend Sir Roger acquainted 
me with their Characters. 

THE firft of them, fays he, that has a Spaniel 
by his Side, is a Yeoman of about an hundred 
Pounds a Year, an honeft Man : He is juft within 
the Game-Act, and qualified to kill an Hare or a 
Pheafant : He knocks down a Dinner with his Gun 
twice or thrice a Week ; and by that means lives 
much cheaper than thofe who have not fo good an 
Eftate as himfelf. He would be a good Neigh- 
bour if he did not deftroy fo many Partridges : in 
fhort, he is a very fenfible Man ; moots flying ; 
and has been feveral times Foreman of the Petty 
Jury. 

THE other that rides along with him is Tom 
Touchy ', a Fellow famous for taking the Law of 
every Body. There is not one in the Town where 
he lives that he has not fued at a Quarter-Semons. 



Sir Roger on the Bench, 107 

The Rogue had once the Impudence to go to Law 
with the Widow. His Head is full of Cofts, Da- 
mages, and Ejectments : He plagued a couple of 
honeft Gentlemen fo long for a Trefpafs in break- 
ing one of his Hedges, till he was forced to fell 
the Ground it enclofed to defray the Charges of 
the Profecution : His Father left him fourfcore 
Pounds a Year ; but he has caft and been carl: fo 
often, that he is not now worth thirty. I fuppofe 
he is going upon the old Bufinefs of the Willow- 
Tree. 

AS Sir Roger was giving me this Account of 
Tom Touchy, Will Wimble and his two Compa- 
nions flopped friort till we came up to them. After 
having paid their Refpects to Sir Roger, Will 
told him that Mr. Touchy and he mufl appeal to 
him upon a Difpute that arofe between them. 
Will it feems had been giving his Fellow-Travellers 
an Account of his Angling one Day in fuch a 
Hole ; when Tom Touchy, inftead of hearing out 
his Story, told him that Mr. fuch an One, if he 
pleafed, might take the Law of him for fifhing in 
that Part of the River. My Friend Sir Roger 
heard them both, upon a round Trot ; and after 
having paufed fome time told them, with the Air 
of a Man who would not give his Judgment rafhly, 
that much might be /aid on both Sides. They were 



108 Sir Roger on the Bench. 

neither of them difTatlsfied with the Knight's De- 
termination, becaufe neither of them found himfelf 
in the Wrong by it : Upon which we made the 
beft of our Way to the AfTizes. 

THE Court was fat before Sir Roger came; 
but notwithftanding all the Juftices had taken their 
Places upon the Bench, they made room for the 
old Knight at the Head of them ; who for his Re- 
putation in the Country took occafion to whifper 
in the Judge's Ear, That he was glad his Lord/hip 
had met with Jo much good Weather in his Circuit. 
I was liftening to the Proceeding of the Court with 
much Attention, and infinitely pleafed with that 
great Appearance and Solemnity which fo properly 
accompanies fuch a publick Adminiftration of our 
Laws ; when, after about an Hour's Sitting, I ob- 
ferved to my great Surprife, in the midft of a Trial, 
that my Friend Sir Roger was getting up to fpeak. 
I was in fome Pain for him, 'till I found he had 
acquitted himfelf of two or three Sentences, with 
a Look of much Bufinefs and great Intrepidity. 

UPON his firfl: Rifing the Court was huflied, 
and a general Whifper ran among the Country 
People that Sir Roger was up. The Speech he 
made was fo little to the Purpofe, that I mail not 
trouble my Readers with an Account of it ; and I 
believe was not fo much defigned by the Knight 



Sir Roger on the Bench. 1 09 

himfelf to inform the Court, as to give him a Fi- 
gure in my Eye, and keep up his Credit in the 
Country. 

I was highly delighted, when the Court rofe, to 
fee the Gentlemen of the Country gathering about 
my old Friend, and driving who mould compli- 
ment him moft ; at the fame time that the ordi- 
nary People gazed upon him at a diftance, not a 
little admiring his Courage, that was not afraid to 
fpeak to the Judge. 

IN our Return home we met with a very odd 
Accident ; which I cannot forbear relating, becaufe 
it mews how defirous all who know Sir Roger 
are of giving him Marks of their Efteem. When 
we were arrived upon the Verge of his Eftate, we 
flopped at a little Inn to reft ourfelves and our 
Horfes. The Man of the Houfe had it feems been 
formerly a Servant in the Knight's Family ; and 
to do Honour to his old Mafter, had fome time 
fince, unknown to Sir Roger, put him up in a 
Sign-poft before the Door ; fo that the Knight's 
Head had hung out upon the Road about a Week 
before he himfelf knew any thing of the Matter. 
As foon as Sir Roger was acquainted with it, find- 
ing that his Servant's Indifcretion proceeded wholly 
from Affection and Good-will, he only told him 
that he had made him too high a Compliment; 



i io Sir Roger on the Bench. 

and when the Fellow Teemed to think that could 
hardly be, added with a more decifive Look, That 
it was too great an Honour for any Man under a 
Duke ; but told him at the fame time, that it 
might be altered with a very few Touches, and 
that he himfelf would be_at the Charge of it. Ac- 
cordingly they got a Painter by the Knight's Di- 
rections to add a pair of Whifkers to the Face, 
and by a little Aggravation of the Features to 
change it into the Saracen* s-Head. I mould not 
have known this Story had not the Inn-keeper, 
upon Sir Roger's alighting, told him in my Hear- 
ing, That his Honour's Head was brought back 
laft Night with the Alterations that he had ordered 
to be made in it. Upon this my Friend with his 
ufual Chearfulnefs related the Particulars above- 
mentioned, and ordered the Head to be brought 
into the Room. I could not forbear difcovering 
greater Expreffions of Mirth than ordinary upon 
the Appearance of this monftrous Face, under 
which, notwithftanding it was made to frown and 
flare in a moft extraordinary manner, I could ftill 
difcover a diftant Refemblance of my old Friend. 
Sir Roger, upon feeing me laugh, defired me to 
tell him truly if I thought it poffible for People to 
know him in that Difguife. I at firft kept my 
ufual Silence ; but upon the Knight's conjuring 



Sir Roger on the Bench. 1 1 1 



me to tell him whether it was not frill more like 
himfelf than a Saracen, I compofed my Counte- 
nance in the beft manner I could, and replied, That 
much might be /aid on both Sides. 

THESE feveral Adventures, with the Knight's 
Behaviour in them, gave me as pleafant a Day 
as ever I met with in any of my Travels. 






CHAP. XVI. 
A Story of an Heir. 

DoSlrina fed <vim promo c uet injitam, 
ReSiique cultus peSiora roborant : 
Utcunque defecere mores, 
Dedecorant bene nata culpa. 

Hor. 

,S I was Yefterday taking the Air with 
my Friend Sir Roger, we were met 
by a frefh-coloured ruddy young Man 
who rid by us full Speed, with a couple of Servants 
behind him. Upon my Inquiry who he was, Sir 
Roger told me that he was a young Gentleman of 
a conflderable Eftate, who had been educated by a 
tender Mother that lived not many Miles from 
the Place where we were. She is a very good 
Lady, fays my Friend, but took fo much care of 
her Son's Health that me has made him good for 
nothing. She quickly found that Reading was 
bad for his Eyes, and that Writing made his Head 
ake. He was let loofe among the Woods as foon 



The Story of an Heir. i 13 

as he was able to ride on Horfeback, or to carry a 
Gun upon his Shoulder. To be brief, I found, by 
my Friend's Account of him, that he had got a 
great Stock of Health, but nothing elfe ; and that 
if it were a Man's Bufinefs only to live, there 
would not be a more accomplifhed young Fellow 
in the whole Country. 

THE Truth of it is, fince my refiding in thefe 
Parts I have {ten and heard innumerable Instances 
of young Heirs and elder Brothers who either from 
their own reflecting upon the Eftates they are born 
to, and therefore thinking all other Accomplifh- 
ments unneceflary, or from hearing thefe Notions 
frequently inculcated to them by the Flattery of 
their Servants and Domefticks, or from the fame 
foolifh Thought prevailing in thofe who have the 
Care of their Education, are of no manner of ufe 
but to keep up their Families, and tranfmit their 
Lands and Houfes in a Line to Pofterity. 

THIS makes me often think on a Story I have 
heard of two Friends, which I fhall give my 
Reader at large, under feigned Names. The 
Moral of it may, I hope, be ufeful, though there 
are fome Circumftances which make it rather ap- 
pear like a Novel, than a true Story. 

EUDOXUS and Leon tine began the World with 
fmall Eftates. They were both of them Men of 



1 14 The Story of an Heir. 

good Senfe and great Virtue. They profecuted 
their Studies together in their earlier Years, and 
entered into fuch a Friendship as lafted to the end 
of their Lives. Eudoxus, at his firfl fetting out in 
the World, threw himfelf into a Court, where by* 
his natural Endowments and his acquired Abilities 
he made his way from one Port to another, till at 
length he had raifed a very considerable Fortune. 
Leontine on the contrary fought all Opportunities 
of improving his Mind by Study, Converfation 
and Travel. He was not only acquainted with all 
the Sciences, but with the mod eminent Profeflbrs 
of them throughout Europe. He knew perfectly 
well the Interests of its Princes, with the Cuftoms 
and Fafhions of their Courts, and could fcarce 
meet with the Name of an extraordinary Perfon in 
the Gazette whom he had not either talked to or 
feen. In fhort, he had fo well mixt and digefted 
his Knowledge of Men and Books, that he made 
one of the moft accomplifhed Perfons of his Age. 
During the whole Courfe of his Studies and Tra- 
vels he kept up a punctual Correfpondence with 
Eudoxus, who often made himfelf acceptable to the 
principal Men about Court by the Intelligence 
which he received from Leontine. When they 
were both turned of Forty (an Age in which, ac- 
cording to Mr. Cowley, there is no dallying with 



The Story of an Heir. 1 1 5 

Life) they determined, purfuant to the Refolution 
they had taken in the beginning of their Lives, to 
retire, and pafs the Remainder of their Days in the 
Country. In order to this, they both of them 
married much about the fame time. Leontine, 
with his own and his Wife's Fortune, bought a 
Farm of three hundred a Year, which lay within 
the Neighbourhood of his Friend Eudoxus, who 
had purchafed an Eftate of as many thoufands. 
They were both of them Fathers about the fame 
time, Eudoxus having a Son born to him, and Le- 
ontine a Daughter ; but to the unfpeakable Grief 
of the latter, his young Wife (in whom all his 
Happinefs was wrapt up) died in a few Days after 
the Birth of her Daughter. His Affliction would 
have been infupportable, had not he been comforted 
by the daily Vifits and Converfations of his Friend. 
As they were one Day talking together with their 
ufual Intimacy, Leontine, considering how incapable 
he was of giving his Daughter a proper Education 
in his own Houfe, and Eudoxus reflecting on the 
ordinary Behaviour of a Son who knows himfelf 
to be the Heir of a great Eftate, they both agreed 
upon an Exchange of Children, namely that the 
Boy mould be bred up with Leontine as his Son, 
and that the Girl mould live with Eudoxus as his 
Daughter, till they were each of them arrived at 



1 1 6 The Story of an Heir. 

Years of Difcretion. The Wife of Eudoxus, know- 
ing that her Son could not be fo advantageoufly 
brought up as under the Care of Leontine, and 
confidering at the fame time that he would be per- 
petually under her own Eye, was by Degrees pre- 
vailed upon to fall in with the Project. She there- 
fore took Leonilla, for that was the Name of the 
Girl, and educated her as her own Daughter. The 
two Friends on each fide had wrought themfelves 
to fuch an habitual Tendernefs for the Children 
who were under their Direction, that each of them 
had the real PafTion of a Father, where the Title 
was but imaginary. Florio, the Name of the young 
Heir that lived with Leontine, though he had all 
the Duty and Affection imaginable for his fuppofed 
Parent, was taught to rejoice at the Sight of Eu- 
doxus, who vifited his Friend very frequently, and 
was dictated by his natural Affection, as well as 
by the Rules of Prudence, to make himfelf efteemed 
and beloved by Florio. The Boy was now old 
enough to know his fuppofed Father's Circum- 
ftances, and that therefore he was to make his way 
in the World by his own Induftry. This Confe- 
deration grew ftronger in him every Day, and pro- 
duced fo good an Effect, that he applied himfelf 
with more than ordinary Attention to the Purfuit 
of every thing which Leontine recommended to 



The Story of 'an Heir. 1 17 

him. His natural Abilities, which were very good, 
aflifted by the Directions of fo excellent a Coun- 
fellor, enabled him to make a quicker Progrefs 
than ordinary through all the Parts of his Educa- 
tion. Before he was twenty Years of Age, having 
finifhed his Studies and Exercifes with great Ap- 
plaufe, he was removed from the Univerfity to the 
Inns of Court, where there are very few that make 
themfelves confiderable Proficients in the Studies 
of the Place, who know they fhall arrive at great 
Eftates without them. This was not Florid 's Cafe ; 
he found that three hundred a Year was but a poor 
Eftate for Leontine and himfelf to live upon, fo 
that he ftudied without Intermirlion till he gained 
a very good Infight into the Conftitution and Laws 
of his Country. 

I mould have tpid my Reader, that whilft Florio 
lived at the Houfe of his Fofter-father he was al- 
ways an acceptable Gueft in the Family of Eu- 
doxus, where he became acquainted with Leonilla 
from her Infancy. His Acquaintance with her by 
degrees grew into Love, which in a Mind trained 
up in all the Sentiments of Honour and Virtue 
became a very uneafy ParTion. He defpaired of 
gaining an Heirefs of fo great a Fortune, and would 
rather have died than attempted it by any indirect 
Methods. Leonilla, who was a Woman of the 



1 1 8 The Story of an Heir. 

greateft. Beauty joined with the greater!: Modefty, 
entertained at the fame time a fecret Paflion for 
Florio y but conducted herfelf with fo much Pru- 
dence that fhe never gave him the lead Intimation 
of it. Florio was now engaged in all thofe Arts 
and Improvements that are proper to raife a Man's 
private Fortune, and give him a Figure in his 
Country, but fecretly tormented with that Paflion 
which burns with the greater!: Fury in a virtuous 
and noble Heart, when he received a fudden Sum- 
mons from Leontine to repair to him in the Coun- 
try the next Day. For it feems Eudoxus was fo 
filled with the Report of his Son's Reputation, that 
he could no longer withhold making himfelf known 
to him. The Morning after his Arrival at the 
Houfe of his fuppofed Father, Leontine told him 
that Eudoxus had fomething of great Importance 
to communicate to him ; upon which the good 
Man embraced him and wept. Florio was no fooner 
arrived at the great Houfe that flood in his Neigh- 
bourhood, but Eudoxus took him by the Hand, 
after the firft Salutes were over, and conducted 
him into his Clofet. He there opened to him the 
whole Secret of his Parentage and Education, con- 
cluding after this manner : / have no other way 
left of acknowledging my Gratitude to Leontine, 
than by marrying you to his Daughter. He fhall 



The Story of an Heir. 1 1 9 



not lofe the Pleafure of being your Father by the Dis- 
covery I have made to you. Leonilla too /hall be Jlill 
my Daughter ; her filial Piety , though mi/placed, 
has been Jo exemplary that it dejerves the greatefi 
Reward I can confer upon it. Tou /hall have the 
Pleafure of feeing a great Eft ate fall to you y which 
you would have loft the Reli/h of had you known your- 
felf born to it. Continue only to deferve it in the 
fame manner you did before you were poffejfed of it. 
I have left your Mother in the next Room. Her 
Heart yearns towards you. She is making the fame 
Difcoveries to Leonilla which I have made to yourfelf 
Florio was fo overwhelmed with this Profufion of 
Happinefs, that he was not able to make a Reply, 
but threw himfelf down at his Father's Feet, and 
amidft a Flood of Tears, kiffed and embraced his 
Knees, afking his Blerling, and expreffing in dumb 
Show thofe Sentiments of Love, Duty, and Grati- 
tude that were too big for Utterance. To con- 
clude, the happy Pair were married, and half Eu- 
doxus's Eftate fettled upon them. Leontine and 
Eudoxus paffed the Remainder of their Lives to- 
gether ; and received in the dutiful and affectionate 
Behaviour of Florio and Leonilla the juft Recom- 
pence, as well as the natural Effects, of that Care 
which they had beftowed upon them in their Edu- 
cation. 




CHAP. XVII. 

Sir Roger and Party Spirit. 




Ne, pueri, ne tanta animis ajfuefcite bella : 

Neu patria <validas in ^vifcera vertite <vires. Virg. 

Y worthy Friend Sir Roger, when we 
are talking of the Malice of Parties, 
very frequently tells us an Accident 
that happened to him when he was a School-boy, 
which was at a time when the Feuds ran high be- 
tween the Round-heads and Cavaliers. This wor- 
thy Knight, being then but a Stripling, had occa- 
fion to inquire which was the Way to St. Anne's 
Lane, upon which the Perfon whom he fpoke to, 
inftead of anfwering his Queftion, called him a 
young Popifh Cur, and afked him who had made 
Anne a Saint ! The Boy, being in fome Confu- 
fion, inquired of the next he met, which was the 
Way to Anne's Lane ; but was called a prick-eared 
Cur for his Pains, and inftead of being fhewn the 
Way, was told that me had been a Saint before he 



Sir Roger and Party Spirit, 1 2 1 

was born, and would be one after he was hanged. 
Upon this, fays Sir Roger, I did not think fit to 
repeat the former Queftion, but going into every 
Lane of the Neighbourhood, afked what they 
called the Name of that Lane. By which inge- 
nious Artifice he found out the Place he inquired 
after, without giving Offence to any Party. Sir 
Roger generally clofes this Narrative with Re- 
flexions on the Mifchief that Parties do in the 
Country ; how they fpoil good Neighbourhood, 
and make honefl Gentlemen hate one another ; be- 
fides that they manifeftly tend to the prejudice of 
the Land-Tax, and the Deftruction of the Game. 
THERE cannot a greater Judgment befal a 
Country than fuch a dreadful Spirit of Divifion as 
rends a Government into two diftinct People, and 
makes them greater Strangers and more averfe to 
one another, than if they were actually two diffe- 
rent Nations. The Effects of fuch a Divifion are 
pernicious to the laft degree, not only with regard 
to thofe Advantages which they give the Common 
Enemy, but to thofe private Evils which they pro- 
duce in the Heart of almofl every particular Per- 
fon. This Influence is very fatal both to Mens 
Morals and their Understandings ; it finks the Vir- 
tue of a Nation, and not only fo, but deftroys even 
Common Senfe. 



122 Sir Roger and Party Spirit, 

A furious Party Spirit, when it rages in its full 
Violence, exerts itfelf in Civil War and Bloodfhed ; 
and when it is under its greater!: Reftraints natu- 
rally breaks out in Falfhood, Detraction, Calumny, 
and a partial Administration of Juflice. In a word, 
it fills a Nation with Spleen and Rancour, and ex- 
tinguiihes all the Seeds of Good-nature, Compaf- 
fion, and Humanity. 

I remember to have read in Biodorus Siculus an 
Account of a very active little Animal, which I 
think he calls the Ichneumon, that makes it the 
whole Bufinefs of his Life to break the Eggs of 
the Crocodile, which he is always in fearch after. 
This Inftinct is the more remarkable, becaufe the 
Ichneumon never feeds upon the Eggs he has broken, 
nor any other Way finds his Account in them. 
Were it not for the incefTant Labours of this induf- 
trious Animal, Mgypt, fays the Hiftorian, would 
be over-run with Crocodiles ; for the ^Egyptians 
are fo far from destroying thofe pernicious Crea- 
tures, that they worfhip them as Gods. 

IF we look into the Behaviour of ordinary Par- 
tizans, we mall find them far from refembling this 
difinterefted Animal ; and rather acting after the 
Example of the wild Tartars, who are ambitious 
of destroying a Man of the mofl extraordinary 
Parts and Accomplishments, as thinking that upon 



Sir Roger and Party Spirit, 123 

his Deceafe the fame Talents, whatever Poft they 
qualified him for, enter of Courfe into his Deftroyer. 

AS in the whole Train of my Speculations, I 
have endeavoured as much as I am able to extin- 
guifh that pernicious Spirit of Paflion and Preju- 
dice, which rages with the fame Violence in all 
Parties, I am {till the more defirous of doing fome 
Good in this Particular, becaufe I obferve that the 
Spirit of Party reigns more in the Country than 
in the Town. It here contracts a kind of Brutality 
and ruftick Fiercenefs, to which Men of a politer 
Converfation are wholly Strangers. It extends itfelf 
even to the Return of the Bow and the Hat ; and 
at the fame time that the Heads of Parties preferve 
towards one another an outward Show of Good- 
breeding, and keep up a perpetual Intercourfe of 
Civilities, their Tools that are difperfed in thefe 
outlying Parts will not fo much as mingle together 
at a Cock-match. This Humour fills the Country 
with feveral periodical Meetings of Whig Jockies 
and Tory Fox-hunters ; not to mention the innu- 
merable Curfes, Frowns, and Whifpers it produces 
at a Quarter-Seffions. 

I do not know whether I have obferved in any 
of my former Papers, that my Friends Sir Roger 
de Coverley and Sir Andrew Freeport are of 
different Principles, the firft of them inclined to 



1 24 Sir Roger and Party Spirit, 

the landed and the other to the monied Intereft. 
This Humour is fo moderate in each of them, that 
it proceeds no farther than to an agreeable Rallery, 
which very often diverts the reft of the Club. I 
find however that the Knight is a much ftronger 
Tory in the Country than in Town, which, as he 
has told me in my Ear, is abfolutely necerTary for 
the keeping up his Intereft. In all our Journey 
from London to his Houfe we did not fo much as 
bait at a Whig-Inn ; or if by chance the Coach- 
man ftopped at a wrong Place, one of Sir Roger's 
Servants would ride up to his Mafter full Speed, 
and whifper to him that the Mafter of the Houfe 
was againft fuch an one in the laft Election. This 
often betrayed us into hard Beds and bad Cheer ; 
for we were not fo inquifitivre about the Inn as the 
Inn-keeper ; and, provided our Landlord's Prin- 
ciples were found, did not take any Notice of the 
Stalenefs of his Provifions. This I found ftill the 
more inconvenient, becaufe the better the Hoft 
was, the worfe generally were his Accommodations ; 
the Fellow knowing very well that thofe who were 
his Friends would take up with coarfe Diet and 
an hard Lodging. For thefe Reafons, all the while 
I was upon the Road I dreaded entering into an 
Houfe of any one that Sir Roger had applauded 
for an honeft Man. 



Sir Roger on Party Spirit. i 2 5 

SINCE my Stay at Sir Roger's in the Country, 
I daily find more Inftances of this narrow Party- 
Humour. Being upon a Bowling-green at a Neigh- 
bouring Market-Town the other Day, (for that is 
the Place where the Gentlemen of one Side meet 
once a Week) I obferved a Stranger among them 
of a better Prefence and genteeler Behaviour than 
ordinary ; but was much furprifed, that notwith- 
standing he was a very fair Better ', no Body would 
take him up. But upon Inquiry I found, that he 
was one who had given a difagreeable Vote in a 
former Parliament, for which Reafon there was not 
a Man upon that Bowling-green who would have 
fo much Correfpondence with him as to win his 
Money of him. 

AMONG other inftances of this Nature, I 
muft not omit one which concerns myfelf. Will 
Wimble was the other Day relating feveral Strange 
Stories that he had picked up no Body knows 
where of a certain great Man ; and upon my 
flaring at him, as one that was furprifed to hear 
fuch Things in the Country, which had never been 
fo much as whifpered in the Town, Will flopped 
fhort in the Thread of his Difcourfe, and after 
Dinner afked my Friend Sir Roger in his Ear if 
he was fure that I was not a Fanatick. 

IT gives me a ferious Concern to fee fuch a 



A A 



126 Sir Roger on Party Spirit, 

Spirit of DifTenfion in the Country ; not only as 
it deftroys Virtue and common Senfe, and renders 
us in a manner Barbarians towards one another, 
but as it perpetuates our Animofities, widens our 
Breaches, and tranfmits our prefent PafTions and 
Prejudices to our Pofterity. For my own part, I 
am fometimes afraid that I difcover the Seeds of 
a Civil War in thefe our Diviflons ; and therefore 
cannot but bewail, as in their firft Principles, the 
Miferies and Calamities of our Children. 





CHAP. XVIII. 

On Gipseys in general. 



Semper que re cent es 
Con-ueclare ju'~uat prsedas, if c vi e vere rapto. Virg. 

S I was Yefterday riding out in the 
Fields with my Friend Sir Roger, we 
faw at a little Diftance from us a Troop 
of Gipfies. Upon the firft Difcovery of them, my 
Friend was in fome doubt whether he mould not 




i 2 8 On Gipfeys in general. 

exert the Juftice of the Peace upon fuch a Band of 
Lawlefs Vagrants ; but not having his Clerk with 
him, who is a neceffary Counfellor on thefe Occa- 
fions, and fearing that his Poultry might fare the 
worfe for it, he let the Thought drop : But at the 
fame time gave me a particular Account of the 
Mifchiefs they do in the Country, in ftealing Peo- 
ple's Goods and fpoiling their Servants. If a ftray 
Piece of Linen hangs upon an Hedge, fays Sir Ro- 
ger, they are fure to have it ; if the Hog lofes his 
Way in the Fields, it is ten to one but he becomes 
theirPrey ; our Geefe cannot live in Peace for them ; 
if a Man profecutes them with Severity, his Hen- 
rooft is fure to pay for it : They generally ftraggle 
into thefe Parts about this Time of the Year ; and 
fet the Heads of our Servant-Maids fo agog for 
Hufbands, that we do not expect to have any Bufi- 
nefs done as it mould be whilft they are in the Coun- 
try. I have an honefl Dairy-maid who crorTes their 
Hands with a Piece of Silver every Summer, and 
never fails being promifed the handfomefl young 
Fellow in the Parifh for her pains. Your Friend 
the Butler has been Fool enough to be feduced by 
them; and, though he is fure to lofe a Knife, a 
Fork, or a Spoon every time his Fortune is told 
him, generally fhuts himfelf up in the Pantry with 
an old Gipfy for above half an Hour once in a 



The Cover ley Gipfeys. 129 

Twelvemonth. Sweet-hearts are the things they 
live upon, which they beftow very plentifully upon 
all thofe that apply themfelves to them. You fee 
now and then fome handfom young Jades among 
them: The Sluts have very often white Teeth and 
black Eyes. 

SIR ROGER obferving that I liftned with great 
Attention to his Account of a People who were fo 
intirely new to me, told me, That if I would they 
mould tell us our Fortunes. As I was very well 
pleafed with the Knight's Propofal, we rid up and 
communicated our Hands to them. A Cajfandra 
of the Crew, after having examined my Lines very 
diligently, told me, That I loved a pretty Maid 
in a Corner, that I was a good Woman's Man, 
with fome other Particulars which I do not think 
proper to relate. My Friend Sir Roger alighted 
from his Horfe, and expofing his Palm to two or 
three that flood by him, they crumpled it into all 
Shapes, and diligently fcanned every Wrinkle that 
could be made in it ; when one of them, who was 
older and more Sun-burnt than the reft, told him, 
That he had a Widow in his Line of Life : Upon 
which the Knight cried, Go, go, you are an idle 
Baggage ; and at the fame time fmiled upon me. 
The Gipfey finding he was not difpleafed in his 
Heart, told him, after a farther Inquiry into his 

B B 



130 The Cover ley Gipfeys. 

Hand, that his True-love was conftant, and that 
fhe mould dream of him to-night : My old Friend 
cried Pifh, and bid her go on. The Gipfey told 
him that he was a Bachelor, but would not be fo 
long ; and that he was dearer to fomebody than he 
thought: The Knight ftill repeated She was an 
idle Baggage, and bid her go on. Ah Matter, 
fays the Gipfey, that roguifri Leer of yours makes 
a pretty Woman's Heart ake ; you han't that Sim- 
per about the Mouth for nothing The un- 
couth Gibberifh with which all this was uttered 
like the Darknefs of an Oracle, made us the more 
attentive to it. To be jfhort, the Knight left the 
Money with her that he had crofled her Hand 
with, and got up again on his Horfe. 

AS we were riding away, Sir Roger told me, 
that he knew feveral fenfible People who believed 
thefe Gipfeys now and then foretold very ftrange 
things ; and for half an Hour together appeared 
more jocund than ordinary. In the Height of his 
Good-humour, meeting a common Beggar upon 
the Road who was no Conjurer, as he went to re- 
lieve him he found his Pocket was picked : That 
being a Kind of Palmiftry at which this Race of 
Vermin are very dexterous. 





CHAP. XIX. 

A Summons to London. 

Ipfa rurfum concedite Syl<va. Virg. 

T is ufual for a Man who loves Country 
Sports to preferve the Game in his own 
Grounds, and divert himfelf upon thofe 
that belong to his Neighbour. My Friend Sir 
Roger generally goes two or three Miles from 
his Houfe, and gets into the Frontiers of his Ef- 
tate, before he beats about in fearch of a Hare or 
Partridge, on purpofe to fpare his own Fields, 
where he is always fure of finding Diverfion when 
the worft comes to the worft. By this Means the 
Breed about his Houfe has time to increafe and 
multiply, befides that the Sport is the more agree- 
able where the Game is the harder to come at, and 
where it does not lie fo thick as to produce any 
Perplexity or Confuiion in the Purfuit. For thefe 
Reafons the Country Gentleman like the Fox, fel- 
dom preys near his own Home. 



132 A Summons to London, 



IN the fame manner I have made a Month's 
Excurfion out of the Town, which is the great 
Field of Game for Sportfmen of my Species, to 
try my Fortune in the Country, where I have 
ftarted feveral Subjects, and hunted them down, 
with fome Pleafure to myfelf, and I hope to others. 
I am here forced to ufe a great deal of Diligence 
before I can fpring anything to my Mind, whereas 
in Town, whilft I am following one Character, it 
is ten to one but I am crofYed in my Way by ano- 
ther, and put up fuch a Variety of odd Creatures 
in both Sexes, that they foil the Scent of one ano- 
ther, and puzzle the Chace. My greater! Diffi- 
culty in the Country is to find Sport, and in Town 
to choofe it. In the mean time, as I have given a 
whole Month's Reft to the Cities of London and 
Weftminftery I promife myfelf abundance of new 
Game upon my return thither. 

IT is indeed high time for me to leave the 
Country, fince I find the whole Neighbourhood 
begin to grow very inquifitive after my Name and 
Character : My Love of Solitude, Taciturnity, 
and particular way of Life, having raifed a great 
Curiofity in all thefe Parts. 

THE Notions which have been framed of me 
are various ; fome look upon me as very proud, 
fome as very modeft, and fome as very melancholy. 



A Summons to London, 133 



Will Wimble, as my Friend the Butler tells me, 
obferving me very much alone, and extremely filent 
when I am in Company, is afraid I have killed a 
Man. The Country People feem to fufpect me 
for a Conjurer ; and fome of them hearing of the 
Vifit which I made to Moll White, will needs have 
it that Sir Roger has brought down a Cunning 
Man with him, to cure the old Woman, and free 
the Country from her Charms. So that the Cha- 
racter which I go under in part of the Neighbour- 
hood, is what they here call a White Witch, 

A Juftice of Peace, who lives about five Miles off, 
and is not of Sir Roger's Party has it feems faid 
twice or thrice at his Table, that he whiles Sir Ro- 
ger does not harbour a Jefuit in his Houfe, and that 
he thinks the Gentlemen of the Country would do 
very well to make me give fome Account of myfelf. 

ON the other fide, fome of Sir Roger's Friends 
are afraid the old Knight is impofed upon by a 
defigning Fellow, and as they have heard that he 
converfes very promifcuoufly, when he is in Town, 
do not know but he has brought down with him 
fome difcarded Whig, that is fullen and fays nothing 
becaufe he is out of Place. 

SUCH is the Variety of Opinions which are 
here entertained of me, fo that I pafs among fome 
for a difafTected Perfon, and among others for a 



c c 



134 -A Summons to London. 



Popiflh Prieft; among fome for a Wizard, and 
among others for a Murderer ; and all this for no 
other Reafon, that I can imagine, but becaufe I do 
not hoot and hollow and make a Noife. It is true 
my Friend Sir Roger tells them, That it is my 
way, and that I am only a Philofopher ; but this 
will not fatisfy them. They think there is more 
in me than he difcovers, and that I do not hold 
my Tongue for nothing. 

FOR thefe and other Reafons I mall fet out for 
London to-morrow, having found by Experience 
that the Country is not a Place for a Perfon of my 
Temper, who does not love jollity, and what they 
call good Neighbourhood. A Man that is out of 
Humour when an unexpected Gueft, breaks in upon 
him, and does not care for facrificing an Afternoon 
to every Chance-comer ; that will be the Matter 
of his own Time, and the Purfuer of his own In- 
clinations, makes but a very unfociable Figure in 
this kind of Life. I mail therefore retire into the 
Town, if I may make ufe of that Phrafe, and get 
into the Crowd again as faft as I can in order to 
be alone. I can there raife what Speculations I 
pleafe upon others without being obferved myfelf, 
and at the fame time enjoy all the Advantages of 
Company with all the Privileges of Solitude. In 
the mean while, to finifh the Month and conclude 



A Summons to London, 135 

thefe my rural Speculations, I fhall here infert a 
Letter from my Friend Will Honeycomb, who 
has not lived a Month for thefe forty Years out 
of the Smoke of London^ and rallies me after his 
way upon my Country Life. 

Dear Spec, 
c T Suppofe this Letter will find thee picking of 
c A Dairies, or fmelling to a Lock of Hay, or 
c paffing away thy time in fome innocent Country 
c Diverfion of the like Nature. I have however 
c Orders from the Club to fummon thee up to 
c Town, being all of us curfedly afraid thou wilt 
c not be able to relim our Company, after thy 
c Converfations with Moll White and Will Wimble, 
c Pr'ythee don't fend us up any more Stories of a 
c Cock and a Bull, nor frighten the Town with 
c Spirits and Witches. Thy Speculations begin to 
c fmell confoundedly of Woods and Meadows. If 
c thou dofl not come up quickly, we fhall conclude 
c that thou art in Love with one of Sir Roger's 
c Dairy-Maids. Service to the Knight. Sir An- 
' drew is grown the Cock of the Club fince he left 
c us, and if he does not return quickly will make 
c every Mother's Son of us Commonwealth's Men. 
Dear Spec, Thine Eternally, 

Will Honeycomb. 




CHAP. XX. 

Farewell to Coverley Hall. 




£>ui, aut Tempus quid poftulet non <videt, aut plura loquitur, aut fe 
oftentat, aut eorum quibufcum eft rationem non habet, is ineptus 
ejfe dicitur. Tull. 

JAVING notified to my good Friend Sir 
Roger that I mould fet out for London 
the next Day, his Horfes were ready at 
the appointed Hour in the Evening ; and attended 
by one of his Grooms, I arrived at the County- 
Town at Twilight, in order to be ready for the 
Stage-coach the Day following. As foon as we 
arrived at the Inn, the Servant, who waited upon 
me, inquired of the Chamberlain in my Hearing 
what Company he had for the Coach ? The Fel- 
low anfwered, Mrs. Betty Arable the great For- 
tune, and the Widow her Mother ; a recruiting 
Officer (who took a Place becaufe they were to 
go;) young Squire ghiickfet her Coufin (that her 



Farewell to Cover ley Hall. 137 

Mother wifhed her to be married to ;) Ephraim 
the Quaker, her Guardian -, and a Gentleman that 
had ftudied himfelf dumb from Sir Roger de Co- 
verley's. I obferved by what he faid of myfelf, 
that according to his Office he dealt much in In- 
telligence ; and doubted not but there was fome 
Foundation for his Reports for the reft of the 
Company, as well as for the whimfical Account he 
gave of me. 

THE next Morning at Day-break we were all 
called ; and I, who know my own natural fhynefs, 
and endeavour to be as little liable to be dis- 
puted with as poflible, dreffed immediately, that 
I might make no one wait. The firft Prepara- 
tion for our Setting out was, that the Captain's 
Half-Pike was placed near the Coachman, and a 
Drum behind the Coach. In the mean time the 
Drummer, the Captain's Equipage, was very loud, 
that none of the Captain's Things mould be placed 
fo as to be fpoiled ; upon which his Cloke-bag 
was fixed in the Seat of the Coach : and the Cap- 
tain himfelf, according to a frequent, though in- 
vidious Behaviour of Military Men, ordered his 
Men to look fharp, that none but one of the La- 
dies mould have the Place he had taken fronting 
to the Coach-box. 

WE were in fome little time fixed in our Seats, 



i 3 8 Farewell to Cover ley Hall. 

and fat with that diflike which People not too 
good-natured ufually conceive of each other at firft 
Sight. The Coach jumbled us infenfibly into fome 
fort of Familiarity : and we had not moved above 
two Miles, when the Widow afked the Captain 
what Succefs he had in his Recruiting ? The Of- 
ficer with a Franknefs he believed very graceful, 
told her, c That indeed he had but very little Luck, 
c and had fufFered much by Defertion, therefore 
c mould be glad to end his Warfare in the Service 
c of her or her fair Daughter. In a word,' conti- 
nued he, c I am a Soldier, and to be plain is my 
c Character : You fee me, Madam, young, found, 
c and impudent ; take me yourfelf, Widow, or 
c give me to her, I will be wholly at your Difpofal. 
c I am a Soldier of Fortune, ha ! ' This was fol- 
lowed by a vain Laugh of his own, and a deep Si- 
lence of all the reft of the Company. I had no- 
thing left for it but to fall faft afleep, which I did 
with all Speed. c Come/ faid he, ' refolve upon it, 
c we will make a Wedding at the next Town : We 
c will wake this pleafant Companion who is fallen 
c afleep, to be the Brideman, and' (giving the Qua- 
ker a Clap on the Knee) he concluded, c This fly 
c Saint, who, I'll warrant, underftands what's what 
c as well as you or I, Widow, mail give the Bride 
c as Father.' 



Farewell to Cover ley Hall. 139 

THE Quaker, who happened to be a Man of 
Smartnefs, anfwered, c Friend, I take it in good 
c part, that thou haft given me the Authority of 
c a Father over this comely and virtuous Child ; 
c and I muft afture thee, that if I have the giv- 
c ing her, I mall not beftow her on thee. Thy 
c Mirth, Friend, favoureth of Folly : Thou art a 
c Perfon of a light Mind ; thy Drum is a Type of 
c thee, it foundeth becaufe it is empty. Verily it 
c is not from thy Fulnefs, but thy Emptinefs that 
c thou haft fpoken this Day. Friend, Friend, we 
c have hired this Coach in Partnerfhip with thee, 
c to carry us to the great City ; we cannot go any 
f other Way. This worthy Mother muft hear 
c thee if thou wilt needs utter thy Follies ; we can- 
c not help it, Friend, I fay : if thou wilt, we muft 
c hear thee : But if thou wert a Man of Under- 
c ftanding, thou wouldft not take Advantage of thy 
c courageous Countenance to abafh us Children of 
' Peace. Thou art, thou fayeft, a Soldier ; give 
c Quarter to us, who cannot refift thee. Why 
c didft thou fleer at our Friend, who feigned him- 
c felf afleep ? he faid nothing ; but how doft thou 
c know what he containeth ? If thou fpeakeft im- 
f proper things in the Hearing of this virtuous 
c young Virgin, confider it as an Outrage againft a 
c diftrefTed Perfon that cannot get from thee : To 



1 40 Farewell to Cover ley Hall. 

c fpeak indifcreetly what we are obliged to hear, by 
c being hafped up with thee in this publick Vehicle, 
c is in fome degree affaulting on the high Road/ 

HERE Ephraim paufed, and the Captain with 
an happy and uncommon Impudence (which can 
be convicted and fupport itfelf at the fame time) 
cries, c Faith, Friend, I thank thee ; I mould have 
c been a little impertinent if thou hadft not repri- 
c manded me. Come, thou art, I fee, a fmoky 
c old Fellow, and I'll be very orderly the enfuing 
c Part of my Journey. I was going to give myfelf 
c Airs, but, Ladies, I beg Pardon.' 

THE Captain was fo little out of Humour, and 
our Company was fo far from being foured by this 
little Ruffle, that Ephraim and he took a particular 
Delight in being agreeable to each other for the fu- 
ture ; and affumed their different Provinces in the 
Conduct of the Company. Our Reckonings, Apart- 
ments, and Accommodation, fell under Ephraim : 
and the Captain looked to all Difputes on the 
Road, as the good Behaviour of our Coachman, 
and the right we had of taking Place as going to 
London of all Vehicles coming from thence. 

THE Occurrences we met with were ordinary, 
and very little happened which could entertain by 
the Relation of them : But when I confidered 
the Company we were in, I took it for no fmall 



Farewell to Cover ley Hall. 141 

Good-fortune that the whole Journey was not 
fpent in Impertinences, which to the one Part of 
us might be an Entertainment, to the other a 
Suffering. 

WHAT therefore Ephraim faid when we were 
almoft arrived at London, had to me an Air not 
only of good Under {landing but good Breeding. 
Upon the young Lady's expreffing her Satisfaction 
in the Journey, and declaring how delightful it had 
been to her, Ephraim delivered himfelf as follows : 
c There is no ordinary Part of human Life which 
c expreffeth fo much a good Mind, and a right in- 
c ward Man, as his Behaviour upon meeting with 
c Strangers, efpecially fuch as may feem the mod 
c unfuitable Companions to him : Such a Man, 
c when he falleth in the way with Perfons of Sim- 
c plicity and Innocence, however knowing he may 
c be in the Ways of Men, will not vaunt himfelf 
c thereof; but will the rather hide his Superiority 
c to them, that he may not be painful unto them. 
1 My good Friend, (continued he, turning to the 
c Officer) thee and I are to part by and by, and 
c peradventure we may never meet again : But be 
c advifed by a plain Man ; Modes and Apparel 
c are but Trifles to the real Man, therefore do not 
c think fuch a Man as thyfelf terrible for thy Garb, 
f nor fuch a one as me contemptible for mine. 

D D 



142 Farewell to Cover ley Hall. 



' When two fuch as thee and I meet, with AfFec- 
c tions as we ought to have towards each other, 
c thou fhouldft rejoice to fee my peaceable De- 
c meanour, and I mould be glad to fee thy Strength 
( and Ability to protect me in it.' 





CHAP. XXI. 

Sir Roger in London. 

JE-th) rarijfuna nojlro 
Simplicitas. Ovid. 

WAS this Morning furprifed with a 
great knocking at the Door, when my 
Landlady's Daughter came up to me, 
and told me, that there was a Man below defired 
to fpeak with me. Upon my afking her who it 




144 Sir Roger in London. 



was, fhe told me it was a very grave elderly Per- 
fon, but that fhe did not know his Name. I im- 
mediately went down to him, and found him to 
be the Coachman of my worthy Friend Sir Roger 
de Coverley. He told me that his Matter came 
to Town laft Night, and would be glad to take a 
Turn with me in Gray's-Inn Walks. As I was 
wondering in myfelf what had brought Sir Roger 
to Town, not having lately received any Letter 
from him, he told me that his Matter was come 
up to get a Sight of Prince Eugene, and that he 
defired I would immediately meet him. 

I was not a little pleafed with the Curiofity of 
the old Knight, though I did not much wonder at 
it, having heard him fay more than once in private 
Difcourfe, that he looked upon Prince Eugenio (for 
fo the Knight always calls him) to be a greater 
Man than Scanderbeg. 

I was no fooner come into Grays-Inn Walks, 
but I heard my Friend upon the Terrace hemming 
twice or thrice to himfelf with great Vigour, for 
he loves to clear his Pipes in good Air (to make 
ufe of his own Phrafe) and is not a little pleafed 
with any one who takes notice of the Strength 
which he ftill exerts in his Morning Hemms. 

I was touched with a fecret Joy at the Sight of 
the good old Man, who before he faw me was en- 



Sir Roger in London. 145 

gaged in Converfation with a Beggar-Man that 
had afked an Alms of him. I could hear my 
Friend chide him for not rinding out fome Work ; 
but at the fame time faw him put his Hand in his 
Pocket and give him Six-pence. 

OUR Salutations were very hearty on both Sides, 
confirming of many kind Shakes of the Hand, and 
feveral affectionate Looks which we cad upon one 
another. After which the Knight told me my 
good Friend his Chaplain was very well, and 
much at my Service, and that the Sunday before 
he had made a moft incomparable Sermon out of 
Doctor Barrow. I have left, fays he, all my 
Affairs in his Hands, and being willing to lay an 
Obligation upon him, have depofited with him 
thirty Marks, to be diflributed among his poor 
Parifhioners. 

HE then proceeded to acquaint me with the 
Welfare of Will Wimble. Upon which he put 
his Hand into his Fob and prefented me in his 
Name with a Tobacco-Stopper, telling me that 
Will had been bufy all the Beginning of the Win- 
ter, in turning great Quantities of them ; and that 
he made a Prefent of one to every Gentleman in 
the Country who has good Principles, and fmokes. 
He added, that poor Will was at prefent under 
great Tribulation, for that Tom Touchy had taken 

E E 



146 Sir Roger in London. 

the Law of him for cutting fome Hazel Sticks out 
of one of his Hedges. 

AMONG other Pieces of News which the 
Knight brought from his Country Seat, he informed 
me that Moll White was dead ; and that about a 
Month after her Death the Wind was fo very high, 
that it blew down the End of one of his Barns. 
But for my own Part, fays Sir Roger, I do not 
think that the old Woman had any Hand in it. 

HE afterwards fell into an Account of the Di- 
verflons which had pafTed in his Houfe during the 
Holidays ; for Sir Roger, after the laudable Cuf- 
tom of his Anceftors, always keeps open Houfe at 
Chriftmas. I learned from him, that he had killed 
eight fat Hogs for this Seafon, that he had dealt 
about his Chines very liberally amongft his Neigh- 
bours, and that in particular he had fent a firing 
of Hogs-puddings with a pack of Cards to every 
poor Family in the Parifh. I have often thought, 
fays Sir Roger, it happens very well that Chrift- 
mas mould fall out in the middle of Winter. It 
is the moil: dead uncomfortable Time of the Year, 
when the poor People would fuffer very much 
from their Poverty and Cold, if they had not good 
Cheer, warm Fires, and Chriftmas Gambols to fup- 
port them. I love to rejoice their poor Hearts at 
this feafon, and to fee the whole Village merry in 



Sir Roger in London. 147 



my great Hall. I allow a double Quantity of Malt 
to my fmall Beer, and fet it a running for twelve 
Days to every one that calls for it. I have always 
a Piece of cold Beef and a Mince-Pye upon the 
Table, and am wonderfully pleafed to fee my Te- 
nants pafs away a whole Evening in playing their 
innocent Tricks, and fmutting one another. Our 
Friend Will Wimble is as merry as any of them, 
and mows a thoufand roguifh Tricks upon thefe 
Occafions. 

I was very much delighted with the Reflexion 
of my old Friend, which carried fo much Goodnefs 
in it. He then lanched out into the Praife of the 
late Act of Parliament for fecuring the Church of 
England, and told me, with great Satisfaction, that 
he believed it already began to take Effect, for that 
a rigid DirTenter, who chanced to dine at his Houfe 
on Chriftmas Day, had been obferved to eat very 
plentifully of his Plum-porridge. 

AFTER having difpatched all our Country 
Matters, Sir Roger made feveral Inquiries con- 
cerning the Club, and particularly of his old An- 
tagonift Sir Andrew Freeport. He afked me 
with a kind of a Smile, whether Sir Andrew had 
not taken the Advantage of his Abfence, to vent 
among them fome of his Republican Doctrines; 
but foon after gathering up his Countenance into 



148 Sir Roger in London, 



a more than ordinary Serioufnefs, Tell me truly, 
fays he, don't you think Sir Andrew had a Hand 

in the Pope's ProcefTion but without giving 

me time to anfwer him, Well, well, fays he, I 
know you are a wary Man, and do not care to talk 
of publick Matters. 

THE Knight then afked me, if I had feen Prince 
Eugenio, and made me promife to get him a Stand 
in fome convenient Place where he might have a 
full Sight of that extraordinary Man, whofe Pre- 
fence does fo much Honour to the Briti/h Nation. 
He dwelt very long on the Praifes of this Great 
General, and I found that, fince I was with him in 
the Country, he had drawn many Obfervations to- 
gether out of his reading in Baker's Chronicle, and 
other Authors, who always lie in his Hall Window, 
which very much redound to the Honour of this 
Prince. 

HAVING parTed away the greater!: Part of the 
Morning in hearing the Knight's Reflexions, which 
were partly private, and partly political, he afked 
me if I would fmoke a Pipe with him over a Dim 
of Coffee at Squire's. As I love the old Man, I 
take Delight in complying with every thing that 
is agreeable to him, and accordingly waited on him 
to the Coffee-houfe, where his venerable Figure 
drew upon us the Eyes of the whole Room. He 






Sir Roger in London. 149 



had no fooner feated himfelf at the upper End of 
the high Table, but he called for a clean Pipe, a 
Paper of Tobacco,, a Difh of Coffee, a Wax-Can- 
dle, and the Supplement , with fuch an Air of Chear- 
fulnefs and Good-humour, that all the Boys in the 
Coffee-room (who feemed to take pleafure in ferv- 
ing him) were at once employed on his feveral 
Errands, infomuch that no Body elfe could come 
at a Dim of Tea, till the Knight had got all his 
Conveniences about him. 




F F 



/ 






/V; , ....,^.,,^,,..^1., ^^^ .. , .^;. ; v,. : ,.^ v n M ,,:,^ 

.-'■'■ 




CHAP. XXII. 
Sir Roger in Westminster Abbey. 

Ire tamen re flat, Nu/na quo devenit, et Ancus. Hor, 

Y Friend Sir Roger de Coverley told 
me t'other Night, that he had been 
reading my Paper upon Weftminfter- 
Abbey^ in which, fays he, there are a great many 
ingenious Fancies. He told me at the fame time, 
that he obferved I had promifed another Paper 




152 Sir Roger in Wejlminjier Abbey. 

upon the Tombs, and that he mould be glad to go 
and fee them with me, not having vifited them 
fince he had read Hiftory. I could not at firft 
imagine how this came into the Knight's Head, 
till I recollected that he had been very bufy all laft 
Summer upon Baker's Chronicle, which he has 
quoted feveral times in his Difputes with Sir An- 
drew Freeport fince his laft coming to Town. 
Accordingly I promifed to call upon him the next 
Morning, that we might go together to the Abbey. 

I found the Knight under his Butler's Hands, 
who always fhaves him. He was no fooner Drafted, 
than he called for a Glafs of the Widow Truebfs 
Water, which he told me he always drank before 
he went abroad. He recommended to me a Dram 
of it at the fame time, with fo much Heartinefs, 
that I could not forbear drinking it. As foon as 
I had got it down, I found it very unpalatable ; 
upon which the Knight obferving that I had made 
feveral wry Faces, told me that he knew I mould 
not like it at firft, but that it was the beft thing in 
the World againft the Stone or Gravel. 

I could have wifhed indeed that he had ac- 
quainted me with the Virtues of it fooner ; but it 
was too late to complain, and I knew what he had 
done was out of Good-will. Sir Roger told me 
further, that he looked upon it to be very good 






Sir Roger in Wejiminjler Abbey. 153 

for a Man whilfl he {laid in Town, to keep off 
Infection, and that he got together a Quantity of 
it upon the firft News of the Sicknefs being at 
Dantzick : When of a fudden turning fhort to one 
of his Servants, who flood behind him, he bid him 
call a Hackney-Coach, and take care it was an 
elderly Man that drove it. 

HE then refumed his Difcourfe upon Mrs. 
Trueby's Water, telling me that the Widow Trueby 
was one who did more good than all the Doctors 
and Apothecaries in the Country : That fhe dis- 
tilled every Poppy that grew within five Miles of 
her ; that fhe distributed her Water gratis among 
all forts of People ; to which the Knight added, that 
fhe had a very great Jointure, and that the whole 
Country would fain have it a Match between him 
and her ; and truly, fays Sir Roger, if I had not been 
engaged, perhaps I could not have done better. 

HIS Difcourfe was broken off by his Man's 
telling him he had called a Coach. Upon our go- 
ing to it, after having carl his Eye upon the Wheels, 
he afked the Coachman if his Axletree was good ; 
upon the Fellow's telling him he would warrant 
it, the Knight turned to me, told me he looked 
like an honefl Man, and went in without further 
Ceremony. 

WE had not gone far, when Sir Roger, pop- 

G G 



1 54 Sir Roger in Wejlminfier Abbey. 

ping out his Head, called the Coachman down 
from his Box, and, upon his prefenting himfelf at 
the Window, afked him if he fmoked ; as I was 
confidering what this would end in, he bid him 
flop by the way at any good TobacconirVs, and 
take in a Roll of their beft Virginia. Nothing 
material happened in the remaining Part of our 
Journey, till we were fet down at the Weft-end of 
the Abbey. 

AS we went up the Body of the Church, the 
Knight pointed at the Trophies upon one of the 
new Monuments, and cryed out, A brave Man I 
warrant him ! ParTing afterwards by Sir Cloudfly 
Shovel^ he flung his hand that way, and cryed, Sir 
Cloudfly Shovel ! a very gallant Man ! As we ftood 
before Bujbys Tomb, the Knight uttered himfelf 
again after the fame Manner, Dr. Bujby, a great 
Man ! he whipped my Grandfather ; a very great 
Man ! I mould have gone to him myfelf, if I 
had not been a Blockhead ; a very great Man ! 

WE were immediately conducted into the little 
Chapel on the right hand. Sir Roger, planting 
himfelf at our Hiftorian's Elbow, was very atten- 
tive to every thing he faid, particularly to the Ac- 
count he gave us of the Lord who had cut off the 
King of Morocco's Head. Among feveral other 
Figures, he was very well pleafed to fee the Statef- 



Sir Roger in Wejiminjler Abbey, 155 

man Cecil upon his Knees ; and concluding them 
all to be great Men, was conducted to the Figure 
which reprefents that Martyr to good Houfewifry, 
who died by the prick of a Needle. Upon our 
Interpreter's telling us, that me was a Maid of Ho- 
nour to Queen Elizabeth, the Knight was very in- 
quisitive into her Name and Family ; and after 
having regarded her Finger for fome time, I won- 
der, fays he, that Sir Richard Baker has faid no- 
thing of her in his Chronicle. 

WE were then conveyed to the two Coronation 
Chairs, where my old Friend, after having heard 
that the Stone underneath the moft ancient of them, 
which was brought from Scotland, was called Jacob's 
Pillar, fat himfelf down in the Chair ; and looking 
like the Figure of an old Gothick King, afked our 
Interpreter, what Authority they had to fay, that 
Jacob had ever been in Scotland ? The Fellow, in- 
ftead of returning him an Anfwer, told him, that 
he hoped his Honour would pay his Forfeit. I 
could obferve Sir Roger a little ruffled upon being 
thus trepanned ; but our Guide not infilling upon 
his Demand, the Knight foon recovered his good- 
humour and whifpered in my Ear, that if Will 
Wimble were with us, and faw thofe two Chairs, 
it would go hard but he would get a Tobacco- 
Stopper out of one or t'other of them. 



156 Sir Roger in W eft minfter Abbey. 

SIR ROGER, in the next Place, laid his hand 
upon Edward the Third's Sword, and leaning upon 
the Pommel of it, gave us the whole Hiftory of 
the Black Prince ; concluding, that, in Sir Richard 
Baker's Opinion, Edward the Third was one of the 
greater!; Princes that ever fat upon the Englijh 
Throne. 

WE were then fhewn Edward the Confefibr's 
Tomb ; upon which Sir Roger acquainted us, that 
he was the firft who touched for the Evil ; and af- 
terwards Henry the Fourth's, upon which he fhook 
his Head, and told us there was fine Reading in 
the Cafualties of that Reign. 

OUR Conductor then pointed to that Monu- 
ment where there is the Figure of one of our En- 
glijh Kings without an Head ; and upon giving us 
to know, that the Head, which was of beaten Sil- 
ver, had been flolen away feveral Years fince : 
Some Whig, I'll warrant you, fays Sir Roger ; 
you ought to lock up your Kings better; they 
will carry off the Body too, if you don't take care. 
THE glorious Names of Henry the Fifth and 
Queen Elizabeth gave the Knight great Opportu- 
nities of mining and of doing Juftice to Sir Richard 
Baker , who, as our Knight obferved with fome 
Surprife, had a great many Kings in him, whofe 
Monuments he had not feen in the Abbey. . 






Sir Roger in Wejlminjler Abbey. 157 

FOR my own part, I could not but be pleafed 
to fee the Knight fhow fuch an honeft Paffion for 
the Glory of his Country, and fuch a refpeclful 
Gratitude to the Memory of its Princes. 

I muft not omit, that the Benevolence of my 
good old Friend, which flows out towards every 
one he converfes with, made him very kind to our 
Interpreter, whom he looked upon as an extraor- 
dinary Man ; for which reafon he fhook him by 
the Hand at parting, telling him, that he mould 
be very glad to fee him at his Lodgings in Norfolk- 
Buildings, and talk over thefe Matters with him 
more at leifure. 




H H 





CHAP. XXIII. 

Sir Roger at the Playhouse. 

Refpicere exemplar vita morumque jubebo 

Doclum imitator em j et <veras hinc ducere 'voces. Hor. 

Y Friend Sir Roger de Coverley, 
when we laft met together at the Club, 
told me that he had a great Mind to 
fee the new Tragedy with me, afTuring me at the 
fame time, that he had not been at a Play thefe 
twenty years. The lafl I faw, faid Sir Roger, was 
the Committee, which I mould not have gone to 
neither, had not I been told before-hand that it was 
a good Church-of- England Comedy. He then pro- 
ceeded to inquire of me who this diftrefTed Mother 
was ; and upon hearing that me was Heclofs Wi- 
dow, he told me that her Hufband was a brave 
Man, and that when he was a School-boy, he had 
read his Life at the End of the Dictionary. My 
Friend afked me in the next place, if there would 
not be fome danger in coming home late, in cafe 
the Mohocks mould be abroad. I afliire you, fays 



Sir Roger at the Playhonfe. 159 

he, I thought I had fallen into their Hands laft 
Night ; for I obferved two or three lufty black 
Men that followed me half way up Fleet-ftreet, and 
mended their pace behind me, in proportion as I 
put on to get away from them. You muft know, 
continued the Knight with a Smile, I fancied they 
had a mind to hunt me ; for I remember an honefl 
Gentleman in my Neighbourhood, who was ferved 
fuch a trick in King Charles the Second's time ; for 
which reafon he has not ventured himfelf in Town 
ever fince. I might have mown them very good 
Sport, had this been their Defign ; for as I am an 
old Fox-hunter, I mould have turned and dodged, 
and have played them a thoufand Tricks they had 
never feen in their Lives before. Sir Roger added;, 
that if thefe Gentlemen had any fuch Intention, 
they did not fucceed very well in it : for I threw 
them out, fays he, at the End of Norfolk-ftreet, 
where I doubled the Corner and got Shelter in my 
Lodgings before they could imagine what was be- 
come of me. However, fays the Knight, if Cap- 
tain Sentry will make one with us to-morrow 
night, and if you will both of you call upon me 
about four o'Clock, that we may be at the Houfe 
before it is full, I will have my own Coach in readi- 
nefs to attend you, for John tells me he has got 
the Fore- Wheels mended. 



160 Sir Roger at the Play houfe. 

THE Captain, who did not fail to meet me 
there at the appointed Hour, bid Sir Roger fear 
nothing, for that he had put on the fame Sword 
which he made ufe of at the Battle of Steenkirk. 
Sir Roger's Servants, and among the reft my old 
Friend the Butler, had, I found, provided them- 
felves with good oaken Plants, to attend their 
Mafter upon this occafion. When we had placed 
him in his Coach, with myfelf at his left-hand, the 
Captain before him, and his Butler at the Head 
of his Footmen in the Rear, we convoyed him in 
Safety to the Play houfe, where after having marched 
up the Entry in good order, the Captain and I 
went in with him, and feated him betwixt us in the 
Pit. As foon as the Houfe was full, and the 
Candles lighted, my old Friend ftood up and 
looked about him with that Pleafure, which a Mind 
feafoned with Humanity naturally feels in itfelf, at 
the fight of a Multitude of People who feem pleafed 
with one another, and partake of the fame common 
Entertainment. I could not but fancy to myfelf, 
as the old Man ftood up in the middle of the Pit, 
that he made a very proper Centre to a tragick 
Audience. Upon the entring of Pyrrhus, the 
Knight told me that he did not believe the King 
of France himfelf had a better Strut. I was indeed 
very attentive to my old Friend's Remarks, becaufe 



Sir Roger at the Playhoufe. 1 6 1 

I looked upon them as a Piece of natural Criticifm, 
and was well pleafed to hear him, at the Conclusion 
of almoft every Scene, telling me that he could not 
imagine how the Play would end. One while he 
appeared much concerned for Andromache ; and a 
little while after as much for Hermione ; and was 
extremely puzzled to think what would become of 
Pyrrhus. 

WHEN Sir Roger faw Andromache' s obftinate 
Refufal to her Lover's Importunities, he whifpered 
me in the Ear, that he was fure me would never 
have him ; to which he added, with a more than 
ordinary Vehemence, you can't imagine, Sir, what 
'tis to have to do with a Widow. Upon Pyrrhus 
his threatning afterwards to leave her, the Knight 
Shook his Head and muttered to himfelf, Ay, do 
if you can. This Part dwelt fo much upon my 
Friend's Imagination, that at the clofe of the 
Third Act, as I was thinking of fomething elfe, 
he whifpered me in my Ear, Thefe Widows, Sir, 
are the mod: perverfe Creatures in the World. 
But pray, fays he, you that are a Critick, is the 
Play according to your Dramatic Rules, as you 
call them ? Should your People in Tragedy always 
talk to be understood ? Why, there is not a Sin- 
gle Sentence in this Play that I do not know the 
meaning of. 



1 62 Sir Roger at the Playhoufe. 



THE Fourth Act very luckily begun before I 
had time to give the old Gentleman an Anfwer : 
Well, fays the Knight, fitting down with great Sa- 
tisfaction, I fuppofe we are now to fee Heffors 
Ghoft. Fie then renewed his Attention, and, from 
time to time, fell a praifing the Widow. He made, 
indeed, a little Miftake as to one of her Pages, 
whom at his firft entering he took for Aftyanax ; 
but quickly fet himfelf right in that Particular, 
though, at the fame time, he owned he mould have 
been very glad to have {ten the little Boy, who, 
fays he, muft needs be a very fine Child by the 
Account that is given of him. Upon Hermione's 
going off with a Menace to Pyrrhus> the Audience 
gave a loud Clap, to which Sir Roger added, on 
my Word, a notable young Baggage ! 

AS there was a very remarkable Silence and 
Stilnefs in the Audience during the whole Action, 
it was natural for them to take the Opportunity of 
thefe Intervals between the Acts, to exprefs their 
Opinion of the Players and of their refpective Parts. 
Sir Roger hearing a Clutter of them praife Oreftes, 
ftruck in with them, and told them, that he thought 
his Friend Py lades was a very fenfible Man ; as 
they were afterwards applauding Pyrrhus, Sir Ro- 
ger put in a fecond time : And let me tell you, 
fays he, though he fpeaks but little, I like the old 



Sir Roger at the Playhoufe. 163 

Fellow in Whifkers as well as any of them. Cap- 
tain Sentry feeing two or three Wags, who fat 
near us, lean with an attentive Ear towards Sir Ro- 
ger, and fearing left they mould fmoke the Knight, 
plucked him by the Elbow, and whifpered fome- 
thing in his Ear, that lafted till the Opening of the 
fifth Act. The Knight was wonderfully attentive 
to the Account which Oreftes gives of Pyrrhus his 
Death, and at the Conclusion of it, told me it was 
fuch a bloody Piece of Work, that he was glad it 
was not done upon the Stage. Seeing afterward 
Oreftes in his raving Fit, he grew more than ordi- 
nary ferious, and took occafion to moralize (in his 
way) upon an Evil Confcience, adding, that Oreftes , 
in his Madnefs, looked as if he Jaw Jomething. 

AS we were the firft that came into the Houfe, 
fo we were the laft that went out of it ; being re- 
folved to have a clear PafTage for our old Friend, 
whom we did not care to venture among the juft- 
ling of the Crowd. Sir Roger went out fully fa- 
tisfied with his Entertainment, and we guarded 
him to his Lodging in the fame manner that 
we brought him to the Playhoufe ; being highly 
pleafed, for my own part, not only with the Per- 
formance of the excellent Piece which had been 
prefented, but with the Satisfaction which it had 
given to the old Man. 





CHAP. XXIV. 
Sir Roger at Vaux-Hall. 

Criminibus debent Hortos Juv. 

,S I was fitting in my Chamber and think- 
ing on a Subject for my next Spectator, 
I heard two or three irregular Bounces 
at my Landlady's Door, and upon the opening of 
it, a loud chearful Voice inquiring whether the 
Philofopher was at Home. The Child who went 
to the Door anfwered very innocently, that he did 
not lodge there. I immediately recollected that it 
was my good Friend Sir Roger's Voice ; and that 
I had promifed to go with him on the Water to 
Spring-Garden, in cafe it proved a good Even- 
ing. The Knight put me in mind of my Pro- 
mife from the bottom of the Stair-Cafe, but told 
me that if I was fpeculating he would ftay be- 
low till I had done. Upon my coming down, I 
found all the Children of the Family got about my 



Sir Roger at Vaux-Hall. 165 

old Friend, and my Landlady herfelf, who is a no- 
table prating GofTip, engaged in a Conference with 
him ; being mightily pleafed with his ftroking her 
little Boy upon the Head, and bidding him be a 
good Child, and mind his Book. 

WE were no fooner come to the Temple-Stairs, 
but we were furrounded with a Crowd of Water- 
men, offering us their refpective Services. Sir Ro- 
ger after having looked about him very attentively, 
fpied one with a Wooden- Leg, and immediately 
gave him Orders to get his Boat ready. As we 
were walking towards it, You muft know, fays Sir 
Roger, I never make life of any body to row me, that 
has not either loft a Leg or an Arm. I would rather 
bate him a few Strokes of his Oar than not employ 
an honeft Man that has been wounded in the Queen's 
Service. If I was a Lord or a Bifhop, and kept a 
Barge, I would not put a Fellow in my Livery that 
had not a Wooden Leg . 

MY old Friend, after having feated himfelf, and 
trimmed the Boat with his Coachman, who, being 
a very fober Man, always ferves for Ballaft on 
thefe Occafions, we made the beft of our Way for 
Vaux-Hall. Sir Roger obliged the Waterman to 
to give us the Hiftory of his right Leg, and hear- 
ing that he had left it at La Hogue, with many 
Particulars which pafTed in that glorious A&ion, 



1 1 



1 66 Sir Roger at Vaux-HalL 

the Knight in the Triumph of his Heart made fe- 
veral Reflexions on the Greatnefs of the Britifh 
Nation ; as, that one Engli/hman could beat three 
Frenchmen ; that we could never be in danger of 
Popery fo long as we took care of our Fleet ; that 
the Thames was the noblefl River in Europe ; that 
London-Bridge was a greater piece of Work, than 
any of the kvtn Wonders of the World ; with 
many other honeft Prejudices which naturally cleave 
to the Heart of a true Englijhman. 

AFTER fome fhort Paufe, the old Knight 
turning about his Head twice or thrice, to take a 
Survey of this great Metropolis, bid me obferve 
how thick the City was fet with Churches, and 
that there was fcarce a Angle Steeple on this fide 
Temple- Bar. A moft Heatheniflj Sight ! fays Sir 
Roger : 'There is no Religion at this End of the 
Town, The fifty new Churches will very much 
mend the Trojpecl; hut Church-work is flow ', Church- 
work is flow I 

I do not remember I have any where mentioned, 
in Sir Roger's Character, his Cuftom of faluting 
every body that paffes by him with a Good-mor- 
row, or a Good-night. This the old Man does 
out of the overflowings of his Humanity, though 
at the fame time it renders him fo popular among 
all his Country Neighbours, that it is thought to 



Sir Roger at Vaux-HalL 1 67 

have gone a good way in making him once or 
twice Knight of the Shire. He cannot forbear this 
Exercife of Benevolence even in Town, when he 
meets with any one in his morning or evening 
Walk. It broke from him to feveral Boats that 
pafTed by us upon the Water ; but to the Knight's 
great Surprife, as he gave the Good-night to two 
or three young Fellows a little before our landing, 
one of them, inftead of returning the Civility, afked 
us, what queer old Put we had in the Boat, with 
a great deal of the like T^^^-Ribaldry. Sir Ro- 
ger feemed a little mocked at firft, but at length 
afTuming a Face of Magiftracy, told us, That if he 
were a Middlefex Juftice> he would make fuch Va- 
grants know that her Majeftfs Subjects were no more 
to he ahufed by Water than by hand. 

WE were now arrived at Spring-Garden, which 
is exquifltely pleafant at this time of the Year. 
When I confidered the Fragrancy of the Walks 
and Bowers, with the Choirs of Birds that fung 
upon the Trees, and the loofe Tribe of People that 
walked under their Shades, I could not but look 
upon the Place as a kind of Mahometan Paradife. 
Sir Roger told me it put him in mind of a little 
Coppice by his Houfe in the Country, which his 
Chaplain ufed to call an Aviary of Nightingales. 
Ton muft underftand, fays the Knight, there is no- 



1 68 Sir Roger at Vaux-Hall. 

thing in the World that pleqfes a Man in Love Jo 
much as your Nightingale. Ah, Mr. Spectator ! 
the many Moon-light Nights that I have walked by 
my/elf, and thought on the Widow hy the Mufick of 
the Nightingale ! He here fetched a deep Sigh, 
and was falling into a Fit of mufing, when a Mafk, 
who came behind him, gave him a gentle Tap 
upon the Shoulder, and afked him if he would 
drink a Bottle of Mead with her? But the Knight 
being ftartled at fo unexpected a Familiarity, and 
difpleafed to be interrupted in his Thoughts of the 
Widow, told her, She was a wanton Baggage, and 
bid her go about her Bufinefs. 

WE concluded our Walk with a Glafs of Bur- 
ton-Ale, and a Slice of Hung-Beef. When we 
had done eating ourfelves, the Knight called a 
Waiter to him, and bid him carry the Remainder 
to the Waterman that had but one Leg. I per- 
ceived the Fellow flared upon him at the oddnefs 
of the MefTage, and was going to be faucy ; upon 
which I ratified the Knight's Commands with a 
peremptory Look. 





CHAP. XXV. 

Sir Roger, the Widow, Will Honeycomb, 
and Milton. 

Torva lexna lupum feguitur, lupus ipfe capdlam ,• 
Florentem cytifum fequitur lafci-va capella. Virg. 

S we were at the Club lafl Night, I ob- 
ferved my Friend Sir Roger, contrary 
to his ufual Cuftom, fat very filent, 
and inftead of minding what was faid by the Com- 
pany, was whittling to himfelf in a very thought- 
ful Mood, and playing with a Cork. I jogged 
Sir Andrew Freeport who fat between us; and 
as we were both obferving him, we faw the Knight 
make his Head, and heard him fay, to himfelf, A 
foolijh Woman ! I can't believe it. Sir Andrew 
gave him a gentle pat upon the Shoulder, and of- 
fered to lay him a Bottle of Wine that he was 
thinking of the Widow. My old Friend ftarted, 
and recovering out of his brown Study, told Sir 
Andrew that once in his Life he had been in the 



170 Sir Roger, the Widow, 



right. In iliort, after fome little Hesitation, Sir 
Roger told us in the Fulnefs of his Heart that he 
had juft received a Letter from his Steward, which 
acquainted him that his old Rival and Antagonist 
in the Country, Sir David Dundrum, had been 
making a Vifit to the Widow. However, fays Sir 
Roger, I can never think that fhe'll have a Man 
that's half a Year older than I am, and a noted Re- 
publican into the bargain. 

Will Honeycomb, who looks upon Love as 
his particular Province, interrupting our Friend 
with a jaunty Laugh -, I thought, Knight, fays he, 
thou hadft lived long enough in the World, not 
to pin thy Happinefs upon one that is a Wo- 
man and a Widow. I think that without Vanity 
I may pretend to know as much of the Female 
World as any Man in Great Britain, though the 
chief of my Knowledge confifts in this, that they 
are not to be known. Will immediately, with 
his ufual Fluency, rambled into an Account of his 
own Amours. I am now, fays he, upon the Verge 
of Fifty, (though by the way we all knew he was 
turned of Threefcore.) You may eafily guefs, 
continued Will, that I have not lived fo long in 
the World without having had fome Thoughts 
of fettling in it, as the Phrafe is. To tell you 
truly, I have feveral times tried my Fortune that 



Will Honeycomb, and Milton. 1 7 1 

way, though I can't much boaft of my Succefs, 
I made my firft Addreffes to a young Lady in 
the Country ; but when I thought things were 
pretty well drawing to a Conclufion, her Father 
happening to hear that I had formerly boarded 
with a Surgeon, the old Put forbid me his Houfe, 
and within a Fortnight after married his Daughter 
to a Fox-hunter in the Neighbourhood. 

I made my next Application to a Widow, and 
attacked her fo brifkly, that I thought myfelf 
within a Fortnight of her. As I waited upon her 
one Morning, me told me, that fhe intended to 
keep her Ready Money and Jointure in her own 
Hand, and defired me to call upon her Attorney 
in Lions-Inn, who would adjuft with me what it 
was proper for me to add to it. I was fo rebuffed 
by this Overture, that I never inquired either for 
her or her Attorney afterwards. 

A few Months after I addreffed myfelf to a 
young Lady who was an only Daughter, and of a 
good Family : I danced with her at feveral Balls, 
fqueezed her by the Hand, faid foft things to her, 
and in fhort made no doubt of her Heart ; and 
tho' my Fortune was not equal to hers, I was in hopes 
that her fond Father would not deny her the Man 
ihe had fixed her Affections upon. But as I went one 
Day to the Houfe in order to break the matter to 



172 Sir Roger, the Widow, 

him, I found the whole Family in Confufion, and 
heard to my unfpeakable Surprife, that Mifs Jenny 
was that very Morning run away with the Butler. 

I then courted a fecond Widow, and am at a 
lofs to this Day how I came to mifs her, for fhe 
had often commended my Perfon and Behaviour. 
Her Maid indeed told me one Day, that her Mif- 
trefs had faid fhe never faw a Gentleman with fuch 
a fpindle Pair of Legs as Mr. Honeycomb. 

AFTER this I laid Siege to four HeirefTes fuc- 
cemVely, and being a handfom young Dog in thofe 
Days, quickly made a Breach in their Hearts ; but 
I don't know how it came to pafs, though I feldom 
failed of getting the Daughters Confent, I could 
never in my Life get the old People on my fide. 

I could give you an Account of a thoufand other 
unfuccefsful Attempts, particularly of one which I 
made fome Years fince upon an old Woman, whom 
I had certainly born away with flying Colours, if 
her Relations had not come pouring in to her Af- 
fiftance from all Parts of England ; nay, I believe 
I mould have got her at Jaft, had not fhe been 
carried off by a hard Froft. 

AS Will's Tranfitions are extremely quick, he 
turned from Sir Roger, and applying himfelf to 
me, told me there was a PafTage in the Book I had 
confidered laft Saturday, which deferved to be writ 



Will Honeycomb, and Milton. 173 

in Letters of Gold ; and taking out a Pocket- Mil- 
ton, read the following Lines, which are Part of 
one of Adam's Speeches to Eve after the Fall. 

Oh ! why did God, 
Creator wife ! that peopled highefi Heav'n 
With Spirits mafculine, create at lafl 
This Novelty on Earth, this fair Defied 
Of Nature ? and not fill the World at once 
With Men, as Angels, zvithout Feminine ? 
Or find fome other way to generate 
Mankind? This Mif chief had not then befall n, 
And more that Jhall befall, innumerable 
Difiurbances on Earth through Female Snares, 
And fir ait Conjunction with this Sex : for either 
He never fh all find out fit Mate y but fuch 
As fome misfortune brings him, or mifiake / 
Or, whom he wifhes mo ft, fhall feldom gain 
Through her perverfenefs ; but Jhall fee her gain' d 
By afar worfe : or iffhe love, withheld 
By Parents ; or his happiefi Choice too late 
Shall ?neet already linked, and Wedlock-bound 
To a fell Adverfary, his Hate or Shame ; 
Which infinite Calamity Jhall caufe 
To human Life, and Houjhold Peace coTifound. 

SIR ROGER liftened to this PafTage with great 
Attention, and defiring Mr. Honeycomb to fold 
down a Leaf at the Place, and lend him his Book, 
the Knight put it up in his Pocket, and told us 
that he would read over thofe Verfes again before 
he went to Bed. 



K K 




ll\ v \-x^ 



CHAP. XXVI. 

Sir Roger passeth away. 

Heu Pietas ! heu prifca Fides ! Virg. 

E laft Night received a Piece of ill News 
at our Club, which very fenfibly afflict- 
ed every one of us. I queftion not but 
my Readers themfelves will be troubled at the 
hearing of it. To keep them no longer in fuf- 
pence, Sir Roger de Coverley is dead. He de- 




ij6 Sir Roger paffeth away. 

parted this Life at his Houfe in the Country, after 
a few Weeks Sicknefs, Sir Andrew Freeport 
has a Letter from one of his Correfpondents in thofe 
Parts, that informs him the old Man caught a Cold 
at the County-SefTions, as he was very warmly 
promoting an Addrefs of his own penning, in which 
he fucceeded according to his Willies. But this 
Particular comes from a Whig Juftice of Peace, 
who was always Sir Roger's Enemy and Antago- 
nift. I have Letters both from the Chaplain and 
Captain Sentrey which mention nothing of it, but 
are filled with many Particulars to the honour of 
the good old Man. I have likewife a Letter from 
the Butler, who took fo much care of me laft Sum- 
mer when I was at the Knight's Houfe. As my 
Friend the Butler mentions, in the Simplicity of 
his Heart, feveral Circumftances the others have 
pafTed over in Silence, I fhall give my Reader a 
Copy of his Letter, without any Alteration or Di- 
minution. 

Honoured Sir, 
< Y7" NO WING that you was my old Mailer's 
c XV good Friend, I could not forbear fending 
c you the melancholy News of his Death, which 
c has afflicted the whole Country, as well as his poor 
c Servants, who loved him, I may fay, better than 



Sir Roger paffetb away. 177 

c we did our Lives. I am afraid he caught his 
c Death the laft County-Seflions, where he would 
c go to fee Juftice done to a poor Widow Woman, 
c and her Fatherlefs Children, that had been wronged 
■ by a neighbouring Gentleman ; for you know, 
c Sir, my good Matter was always the poor Man's 
c Friend. Upon his coming home, the firft Com- 
c plaint he made was, that he had loft his Roft-Beef 
c Stomach, not being able to touch a Sirloin, which 
c was ferved up according to cuftom ; and you 
c know he ufed to take great delight in it. From 
c that time forward he grew worfe and worfe, but 
f ftill kept a good Heart to the laft. Indeed we 
c were once in great hope of his Recovery, upon a 
c kind Meftage that was fent him from the Widow 
c Lady whom he had made love to the forty laft 
c Years of his Life ; but this only proved a Light- 
c ning before Death. He has bequeathed to this 
c Lady, as a token of his Love a great Pearl Neck- 
c lace, and a Couple of Silver Bracelets fet with 
c Jewels, which belonged to my good old Lady his 
c Mother : He has bequeathed the fine white Geld- 
c ing, that he ufed to ride a hunting upon, to his 
c Chaplain, becaufe he thought he would be kind 
c to him, and has left you all his Books. He has, 
c moreover, bequeathed to the Chaplain a very 
c pretty Tenement with good Lands about it. It 

L L 



178 Sir Roger paffeth away. 

c being a very cold Day when he made his Will, 
c he left for Mourning, to every Man in the Pa- 
c rifri, a great Frize Coat, and to every Woman 5 a 
c black Riding-hood. It was a moft moving fight 
c to fee him take leave of his poor Servants, com- 
c mending us all for our Fidelity, whilft we were 
c not able to fpeak a word for weeping. As we 
c moft of us are grown gray-headed in our dear 
c Matter's Service, he has left us Penfions and Le- 
f gacies, which we may live very comfortly upon, 
c the remaining part of our Days. He has be- 
c queathed a great deal more in Charity, which is 
c not yet come to my Knowledge, and it is pe- 
c remptorily faid in the Parifh, that he has left 
c Money to build a Steeple to the Church ; for he 
c was heard to fay fome time ago, that if he lived 
c two Years longer, Coverley Church mould have 
c a Steeple to it. The Chaplain tells every Body 
c that he made a very good End, and never fpeaks 
c of him without Tears. He was buried according 
c to his own Directions, among the Family of the 
c Coverlies, on the Left Hand of his Father Sir 
f Arthur. The Coffin was carried by fix of his 
c Tenants, and the Pall held up by fix of the 
c Quorum : The whole Parifh followed the Corps 
c with heavy Hearts, and in their Mourning Suits, 
( the Men in Frize, and the Women in Riding 



Sir Roger paffeth away. 179 

c Hoods. Captain Sentrey, my Mailer's Nephew, 
c has taken pofTerTion of the Hall-Houfe, and the 
f whole Eftate. When my old Mafter faw him a 
c little before his Death, he mook him by the 
c Hand, and wifhed him Joy of the Eftate which 
c was falling to him, defiring him only to make a 
c good Ufe of it, and to pay the feveral Legacies, 
c and the Gifts of Charity which he told him he 
1 had left as Quit-rents upon the Eftate. The 
c Captain truly feems a courteous Man, though he 
1 fays but little. He makes much of thofe whom 
c my Mafter loved, and mows great Kindneffes to 
c the old Houfe-dog, that you know my poor Maf- 
* ter was fo fond of. It would have gone to your 
c Heart to have heard the Moans the dumb Crea- 
c ture made on the Day of my Mafter's Death. 
c He has never joyed himfelf fince ; no more has 
c any of us. 'Twas the melancholieft Day for the 
c poor People that ever happened in JVorceJier/hire. 
c This is all from, 

c Honoured Sir, 
c Tour moft Jorrowful Servant, 

Edward Bifcuit. 
P. S. c My Mafter deftred, fome Weeks before 
c he died, that a Book which comes up to you 
c by the Carrier fhould be given to Sir Andrew 
c Freeport, in his Name.' 



180 Sir Roger paffeth away, 

THIS Letter, notwithstanding the poor Butler's 
manner of writing it, gave us fuch an Idea of our 
good old Friend, that upon the reading of it there 
was not a dry Eye in the Club. Sir Andrew open- 
ing the Book, found it to be a Collection of Acts 
of Parliament. There was in particular the Act 
of Uniformity, with fome Paflages in it marked 
by Sir Roger's own Hand. Sir Andrew found 
that they related to two or three Points, which he 
had difputed with Sir Roger the laft time he ap- 
peared at the Club. Sir Andrew, who would have 
been merry at fuch an Incident on another Occa- 
sion, at the fight of the old Man's Hand-writing 
burft into Tears, and put the Book into his Pocket. 
Captain Sentrey informs us, that the Knight has 
left Rings and Mourning for every one in the 
Club. 





NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



The Author's Preface. Page i. 

FROM the Spe&ator, N0.1, dated March i, 1711-12. By 
Addifon. 

Page 3. / made a Voyage to Grand Cairo, on purpofe to take 
Meafure of the Pyramid. A half century's contention refpecl:- 
ing the exact admeafurement of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh 
was a fair fubjecl: for ridicule in fpiteof Dr. Percy's fligma that 
the fatire was " reprehenfible." Mr. John Greaves originated 
the argument fo long before the publication of this harmlefs rail- 
lery as 1646, in his Work entitled "Pyramidologia," and it feems 
to have been carried on with burning zeal and wonderful learn- 
ing to the days of the Spectator, although death had removed 
Greaves from the difcuffion in 1652. In No. 7 the Spectator 
fays, " I defign to vifit the next mafquerade in the fame Habit 
I wore at Grand Cairo." 

Page 4. The Coffee Houses. There is no Place of general 
Refort wherein I do not make my Appearance. The chief places 
of refort were coffee and chocolate houfes, in which fome men 
almoft lived, infomuch that whoever wifhed to find a gentleman 
commonly afked, not where he refided, but which coffee houfe he 
frequented ? No decently attired idler was excluded, provided 
he laid down his penny at the bar ; but which he could feldom 
do without ftruggling through the crowd of beaux who fluttered 
round the lovely bar-maid. Here the proud nobleman or country 
fquire were not to be diftinguifhed from the genteel thief and 
daring highwayman. " Pray Sir," fays Aimwell to Gibbet, in 



1 82 Notes and Illujirations. 

Farquhar's Beaux Stratagem, " han't I feen your face at Will's 
coffee houfe ? M The robber's reply is : — " Yes, Sir ; and at 
White's too." 

Coffee houfes, from the time of their commencement in 1652, 
ferved inftead of newfpapers : — they were arena for political 
difcuffion. Journalifm was then in its infancy : the firft daily 
newfpaper {The Daily C our ant) was fcarcely two years old, and 
was too fmall to contain much news ; as were the other journals 
then extant. Hence the fiercely contefted polemics of the period 
were either waged in fingle pamphlets or in periodicals flarted to 
advocate or to oppofe fome particular queftion, and laid down 
when that was fettled. The peaceful leading article and mild 
letter " to the Editor" had not come into vogue as fafety 
valves for the efcape of overboiling party zeal ; and the hot 
blood, roufed in public rooms to quarrelling pitch, was too often 
cooled by the rapier's point. 

Each coffee houfe had its political or literary fpeciality ; and 
of thofe enumerated in the prefent paper, Will's was the ren- 
dezvous for the wits and poets. It was named after William 
Urwin, its proprietor, and was fituated at No. 1, Bow Street, 
at the corner of Great Ruffell Street, Covent Garden ; the coffee- 
room was on the firft floor, the lower part having been occupied as 
a retail fhop. Dryden's patronage and frequent appearance made 
the reputation of the houfe, which was afterwards maintained by 
other celebrated characters. De Foe wrote — about the year 
1720— that "after the play the beft company go to Tom's or 
Will's Coffee houfe near adjoining ; where there is playing pic- 
quet and the beft converfation till midnight. Here you will fee 
blue and green ribbons and ftars familiarly, and talking with 
the fame freedom, as if they had left their quality and degrees of 
diftance at home." The turn of converfation is happily hit off 
in the Spectator for June 12th, 171 2, when a falfe report of the 
death of Louis XIV. had reached England : — " Upon my 
going into Will's I found their difcourfe was gone off from the 
death of the French king to that of Monfieur Boileau, Racine, 
Corneille, and feveral other poets, whom they regretted on this 
occafion, as perfons who would have obliged the world with very 
noble elegies on the death of fo great a prince, and fo eminent 



Notes and Illuftrations. 183 

a patron of learning." It was from Will's coffee houfe that the 
Tatler dated his poetry. 

Child's was in St. Paul's Churchyard. Its vicinity to the 
Cathedral and Doctor's Commons, made it the refort of the 
clergy and other ecclefiaflical loungers. In one refpecl Child's 
was fuperfeded by the Chapter in Paternofler Row. 

The St. James's was the Spectator's head-quarters. It flood 
at the end of Pall Mall — of which it commanded a perfpective 
view — near to, if not upon the lite of what is now No. 87, 
St. James's Street, and clofe to Oxinda's chocolate houfe. Thefe 
were the great party rallying places : " a Whig," fays de Foe, 
" would no more go to the Cocoa Tree or Oxinda's than a Tory 
would be feen at St. James's" Swift, however, frequented 
the latter during his fojourn in London, 17 10-13 ; till, righting 
in the van of the Tory ranks, he could no longer fhow face 
there, and was obliged to relinquifh the fociety of thofe literary 
friends whom, though Whigs, he cherifhed. Up to that time 
all his letters were addreffed to the St. James's coffee houfe, and 
thofe from Mrs. Johnfton (Stella) were enclofed under cover 
to Addifon. Elliot, who kept the houfe, acted confidentially 
for his cuftomers as a party agent ; and was on occasions placed 
on a friendly footing with fome of his diftinguifhed guefls. In 
Swift's Journal to Stella, under the date of Nov. 19, 17 10, we 
find the following entry : — " This evening I chriftened our 
coffee-man Elliot's child ; when the rogue had a moll noble fup- 
per, and Steele and I fat amongft fome fcurvy company over a 
bowl of punch." This mull have included fome of Elliot's more 
intimate or private friends ; for he numbered amongll his cufto- 
mers nearly all the Whig ariftocracy. The Tatler (who dated his 
politics from the St. James's,) enumerating the charges he was 
at to entertain his readers, allures them that " a good obferver 
cannot even fpeak with Kidney [' keeper of the book debts of the 
outlying cuftomers, and obferver of all thofe who go off without 
paying,'*] without clean linen." 

The S peel at or, in his 403 rd number, gives a graphic pifture 
of the company in the coffee-room : — "I firft of all called in 

* Spe&ator, No. 24. 



1 84 Notes and Illuftrations* 

at St. James's, where I found the whole outward room in a 
buzz of politics. The fpeculations were but very indifferent 
towards the door, but grew finer as you advanced to the upper 
end of the room, and were fo very much improved by a knot of 
theorifts, who fat in the inner room, within the fleams of the 
coffee-pot, that I there heard the whole Spanifh monarchy dif- 
pofed of, and all the line of Bourbon provided for, in lefs than 
a quarter of an hour." 

The Grecian in Devereux Court derived its name from a 
Greek named Conftantine, who introduced a new and im- 
proved method of making coffee, from the land of Epicurus. 
Perhaps from this caufe, or from having fet up his apparatus 
clofe to the Temple, he drew the Learned to his rooms. " All 
accounts of Learning," faith the Tatler, " fhall be under the 
Title of the Grecian" The alumni appear to have difputed 
at a particular table. " I cannot keep an ingenious Man," con- 
tinues Bickerftaff, " to go daily to the Grecian without allowing 
him fome plain Spanifh to be as able as others at the learned 
Table." The glory of the Grecian outlafted that of the reft, 
and it remained a tavern till 1843. 

Jonathan's, in Change Alley, the general mart for ftock- 
jobbers, was the precurfor of the prefent Stock Exchange in 
Capel Court. The hero of Mrs. Centlivre's comedy " A Bold 
Stroke for a Wife," performs at Jonathan's his moft fuccefsful 
deception on the city guardian of his miftrefs. 

The other coffee houfes will be noticed as they occur in the 
text. 

Page 6. TV is laid and concerted (as all other Matters of Im- 
portance are) in a Club. The word Club as applied to convi- 
vial meetings, is derived from the Saxon deaf an, to divide, 
" becaufe," fays Skinner, " the expenfes are divided into fhares 
or portions." 

Clubs were more general in the days of the Spectator than 
perhaps at any other period of our hiftory. Throughout the 
previous half-century public difcord had diffevered private fo- 
ciety ; and, at the Refloration, men yearned for fellowfhip ; but 
as, even yet, political danger lurked under an unguarded ex- 
preffion or a rafh toaft, companions could not be too carefully 



Notes and Illujlrations. 185 

chofen. Perfons therefore whofe political opinions and private 
taftes coincided, made a practice of meeting in clubs. This 
principle of congeniality took all manner of odd turns, but 
the political clubs of the time played an important part in hif- 
tory. 

The idea of uniting the authors of a periodical in a club — 
though an obvious one — was calculated to bring out fparlding 
contrails of character. But it was not fuccefsfully elaborated. 
Each perfonage was greatly diflbciated from the club in future 
papers. Hence the faults fome critics have found with the 
character of Sir Roger ; for, taken in connection with the 
fociety, it has not the coherence it would have had, if the club 
fcheme had been efficiently developed. But viewed feparately, 
what — as the reader of thefe pages will own — can be more har- 
monious or natural? 

The eccentric clubs were fruitful fources of fatire to the Specta- 
tor. He is merry on the Mummers', the Two-penny, the Ugly, 
the Fighting, the Fringe-Glove, the Hum-drum, the Doldrum, 
the Everlajiing, and the Lovers' clubs ; on clubs of fat men, of 
tall men, of one-eyed-men, and of men who lived in the fame 
ftreet. This laft w T as a focial arrangement almofl neceflary at a 
time when diftant vifits were impoffible at night, not only from 
the bad condition of the ftreets, but from the ravages of the 
daitardly "Mohock Club," of which hereafter. 

Page 6. Thofe who have a mind to correfpond with me may 
direct their Letters to the Spectator at Mr. Buckley's. 

• " This day is publifhed 
A paper entitled The Spectator, which will be continued every 
day. Printed for Sam. Buckley at the Dolphin, in Little Bri- 
tain, and fold by A. Baldwin, in Warwick Lane." 

Daily C our ant, March \ft, 1 7 1 1 . 

The above names form the imprint to the Spectator's early 
papers. From No. 18 appears, in addition, "Charles Lillie 
[perfumer, bookfeller and fecretary to the Tatler's " Court of 
Honour"] at the corner of Beaufort buildings in the Strand." 
From the date, Auguft 5th, 17 12, (No. 449) Jacob Tonfon's 

M M 



1 86 Notes and Illujlrations. 

imprint is appended. About that time he removed from Gray's 
Inn Gate to " the Strand, over againft Catherine Street." 

Samuel Buckley had eventually an innocent hand in the difcon- 
tinuanceof the Spectator. He was the "writerandprinter" of the 
firft daily newfpaper — The Daily G our ant, and having publifhed 
on the 7th of April, 171 2, a memorial of the States General, 
reflecting on the Englifh government, he was brought in cuftody 
to the bar of the Houfe of Commons. The upfhot was fome 
ftrong refolutions refpecting the licentioufnefs of the prefs (which 
had indeed been commented on at the opening of parliament in 
the Oueen's Speech) and the impofition of the halfpenny ftamp 
on periodicals. To this addition to the price of the Spectator 
is attributed its downfall. 



Chap. I. Sir Roger and the Club. 

No. 2. Friday, March 2, 1711-12. By Steele. 

Page 9. The fir ft of our Society is a Gentleman of Worcefter- 
Jhire of ancient Defcent, a Baronet, his Name is Sir Roger de 
Coverley. Whenever any flriking individuality appears in 
print, the public love to fuppofe that, inftead of being the embo- 
died reprefentative of a clafs, it is an actual portrait. A thoufand 
conjectures were afloat as to the original of Sir Roger de Cover- 
ley, at the time and long after the Spectator's papers were in 
current circulation. Thefe were revived by a paflage in the 
preface to Budgell's Theophraftus in which he alferted in general 
terms that moft of the characters in the Spectator were confpicu- 
oufly known. It was not however till 1783, when Tyers named 
Sir John Packington of Weftwood, Worcellerfhire, that any pro- 
totype to Sir Roger was definitely pointed out. 

Tyers's affertion is not tenable. Except that Sir Roger and 
Sir John were both baronets and lived in Worcefterfhire, each pre- 
fents few points of fimilitude to the other : — Sir Roger was a 
difappointed bachelor ; Sir John was twice married : Sir Roger, 
although more than once returned knight of the fhire, was not 
an ardent politician ; Sir John was, and fate for his native county 
in every parliament fa ve one from his majority till his death. Weft- 



Notes and Illuftrations. 187 

wood Houfe — " in the middle of a wood that is cut into twelve 
large ridings; the whole encompaffed with a park of fix or feven 
miles,"* — bears no greater refemblance to the defcription of 
Coverley Hall than the fcores of Country houfes which have wood 
about them. Sir Roger is neither litigant nor lawyer, defpite 
the univerfal applaufe bellowed by the Quarter feffion on his 
expofition of " a paffage in the game-aft:" Sir John was a 
barrifter, and befides having been Recorder for the cityofWor- 
cefter, proved himfelf fo powerful a plaintiff that he ouiled the 
then Bifhop of Worceiter from his place of Royal Almoner for 
interfering in the County eleftion. 

The account of the Speclator and each member of his club 
was moil likely fictitious ; for the Tatler having been betrayed 
into perfonalities gave fuch grave offence, that Steele determined 
not to fall again into a like error. Had indeed the originals of 
Sir Roger and his club-companions exifted among, as Budgell 
afferts, the "confpicuous" characters of the day, literary hiftory 
would affuredly have revealed them. But a better witnefs than 
Budgell teflifies to the reverfe. The Spectator emphatically dif- 
claims perfonality in various paffages : — In 262 he fays "When 
I place an imaginary Name at the Head of a Character, I exa- 
mine every Syllable, every Letter of it, that it may not bear any 
refemblance to one that is Real :" in another place, — "1 would 
not make myfelf merry with a Piece of Paiteboard that is in- 
verted with a Public Character." 

Page 7. His Great Grandfather was Inventor of that famous 
Country-Dance called after him. The real fponfor to the joyous 
conclufion of every ball has only been recently revealed after 
the moil vigilant refearch. An autograph account by Ralph 
Thorefby, of the family of Calverley of Calverley in Yorkfhire, 
dated 1 7 1 7, and which is now in the poffeffion of Sir W. Cal- 
verley Trevelyan, Hates that the tune of Roger a Calverley 
was named after Sir Roger of Calverley, who lived in the time 
of Richard the Firft. This Knight, according to the cuftom of 
that period, kept minftrels, who took the name from their office 
of harper. Their defcendants poffeffed lands in the neighbour- 

* Nafti's Worcefterfhire. 



1 88 Notes and Illuji rat ions. 

hood of Calverley, called Harperfroids and Harper's Spring. 
" The feal of this Sir Roger, appended to one of his charters, is 
large, with a chevalier on horfeback." 

The earlieft printed copy of the tune which has yet been 
traced is in ** a choice collection to a ground for a treble 
violin," by J. Playford, 1685. It appears again in 1695 in 
H. Playford's " Dancing Mafter." Mr. Chappell, author of the 
elaborate work on Englifh Melodies, believes it to have been a 
hornpipe. That it was popular about the Spectator's time is 
fhown from a pafTage in a Satirical hiftory of Powel the Pup- 
pet man (17 15): — "Upon the preludes being ended each party 
fell to bawling and calling for particular tunes. The hobnailed 
fellows, whofe breeches and lungs feemed to be of the fame lea- 
ther, cry'd out for " Chelhire Rounds," "Roger of ' Cover ley 9 " 
"Joan's placket," and " Northern Nancy." 

Steele owned that the notion of adapting the name to the good 
genial old knight, originated with Swift. 

Page 10. When in Town he lives in Soho Square. Sir Roger 
had doubtlefs chofen this fafhionable locality in the " fine gen- 
tleman" era of his career. We fhall prefently fee, that on his 
fubfequent viftts to Town he changed his lodgings to humbler 
neighbourhoods. The fplendour of Soho Square was only 
dawning, when Foreign Princes were taken to fee Bloomfbury 
Square as one of the wonders of England. In 1 68 1 , the former 
had no more than eight refidences in it, and the palace of the 
unfortunate Duke of Monmouth filled up the entire South fide. 
During Sir Roger's fuppofed refidence in Soho (then alfo called 
King's) Square he had for a neighbour Bifhop Burnet. Only 
a few years later it loft cafte ; for by 1 7 1 7 we find from Wal- 
pole's Anecdotes of Painting that Monmouth Houfe had been 
converted into Auction Rooms. 

Sir Roger changed his refidence at each fubfequent vifit to 
London. The Spectator in his 335th Number lodges him in 
Norfolk Street, Strand, and in No. 410 in Bow Street, Covent 
Garden. 

Page 10. Kicked Bully Daw/on. Daw 7 fon was a fwaggering 
gentleman about Town, when Etheridge and Rochefter were in 
full vogue. One of the Manufcript notes, by Oldys, upon the 



Notes and Illuftrations. 1 89 

margins of the copy of Langbaine's account of the Englifh Dra- 
matic Poets, in the Britifh Mufeum, mentions him thus : — 

" The character of Captain Hackman in this Comedy [Shad- 
well's ( Squire of Alfatia'] was drawn as I have been told by old 
John Bowman the player, to expofe Bully Dawfon, a noted 
fharper, fwaggerer, and debauchee about Town, efpecially in 
Blackfriars and its infamous purlieus." 

Page 12. He has his Shoes rubbed and his Periwig powdered at 
the Barbels as you go into the Rofe. The Rofe flood at the 
end of a pafTage in RufTell Street, adjoining the theatre which 
then, be it remembered, faced Drury Lane. It was here that 
on the 1 2th November 1 7 1 2, the feconds on either fide arranged 
the duel fought the next day by the Duke of Hamilton and Lord 
Mohun, in which both were killed. 

Page 1 2. Sir Andrew Freeport. " To Sir Roger who as a 
country gentleman appears to be a Tory ; or, as it is generally 
expreffed, an adherent to the landed intereft, is oppofed Sir An- 
drew Freeport, a new man and a wealthy merchant, zealous 
for the money 'd. intereft, and a Whig. Of this contrariety of 
opinions more confequences were at firft intended than could be 
produced when the refolution was taken to exclude party from 
the paper." Dr. John/on' s Life of Addifon. 

No one has ventured to name originals either for the Tem- 
plar or Sir Andrew Freeport. 

Page 14. Captain Sentry. This character, heir to Sir Ro- 
ger, is faid — with no more probability than attaches to the 
imagined origin of the others — to have been copied from Col. 
Kempenfedlt, father of the Admiral who was drowned in the 
Royal George when it went down at Spithead in 1782. The 
conjecture probably had no other foundation — a very frail one — 
than a eulogium on the colonel's character in Captain Sentry's 
letter to the club announcing his induction into Sir Roger's eftate, 
and which forms the laft of the Coverley papers. 

Page 15. Will Honeycomb. Col. Cleland of the Life Guards 
has been named as the real perfon here defcribed : but as in the 
former inftances the fuppofition is ill fupported. 



190 Notes and Illujirations. 



Chap. II. Coverley Hall. 

No. 106. Monday, July 2, 171 i. By Addifon. 

Page 22. He was afraid of being infulted with Latin and 
Greek at his own Table. The literary acquirements of the 
Squirearchy of Sir Roger's era were few. At a time not long ante- 
cedent, " an efquire paffed for a great fcholar if Hudibras, and 
Baker's Chronicle, Tarleton's Jells, and the Seven Champions of 
Chriftendom lay in his hall window among angling rods and 
liming lines."* But that Sir Roger may appear in this, as in 
other refpedts, above the average of his order, there is in Co- 
verley Hall a library rich in " divinity and MS. houfehold re- 
ceipts." Sir Roger too had drawn many obfervations together 
out of his reading in Baker's Chronicle, and other authors 
" who always lie in his Hall window ; " and, however limited 
his own claffic lore, it is certain that both in love and in 
friendfhip he difplayed ftrong literary fy mpathies. The per- 
verfe Widow whofe cruelty darkened his whole exiftence, was 
a " reading lady," a "defperate fcholar," and in argument "as 
learned as the belt philofopher in Europe." One who, when in 
the country, " does not run into dairies, but reads upon the na- 
ture of plants — has a glafs hive and comes into the garden out 
of books to fee them work." In his friendfhip again, Sir Roger 
was all for learning. Befides the Spectator, — to whom he 
eventually bequeathed his books — he indulged a Platonic admi- 
ration for Leonora, a Widow, formerly a celebrated beauty, and 
ftill a very lovely woman — who " turned all the pamon of her 
fex into a love of books and retirement." 



Chap. III. The Coverley Household. 

No. 107. Tuefday, July 3, 1711. By Steele. 

Page 26. The general Corruption of Manners in Servants is 
owing to the Conduct of Mafters. The account of Sir Roger's 
domeftics, in which his benevolence is made fo vividly to beam 

* Macaulay's Hiftory of England. 



Notes and Illujlrations. 1 9 1 

forth, was " intended as a gentle admonition to thanklefs 
mailers," whofe harfhnefs and brutality were not exaggerated 
in the fictions and plays of the time. It was quite ufual for 
gentlemen to cane offending footmen, and to affail female fer- 
vants with the coarfefl abufe. On the other fide, dependants 
took their revenge to the fulleft extent ; — fometimes by fubtle 
artifice, at others by recklefs diffipation and bold difhonefty. 
Newfpapers, and criminal records, prove that Dean Swift's 
" Directions to Servants" was not an imaginative fa tire ; but 
that every word was founded on fact. Indeed fome of the expe- 
riences from which it was drawn were manifeflly derived from 
his own drinking, cheating, and cringing man, Patrick. In the 
88th number of the Spectator Philo-Britannicus complains 
that although there is no place wherein fervants labour lefs than 
in England, yet they are nowhere " fo little refpectful, more 
wafteful, more negligent, or where they fo frequently change 
mailers." 

That moil of the vices of fervants were due to the ill-con- 
duct of mailers — which the example of Sir Roger in this chap- 
ter is meant in all kindlinefs to expofe and correct — the Spectator 
points out in many pages ; but, efpecially, in his commentary on 
the letter of Philo-Britannicus. " All dependants," he obferves, 
" run in fome meafure into the Meafures and Behaviour of thofe 
whom they ferve" — a fact which he humoroufly illuilrates 
thus : — 

" Falling in the other day at a victualling-houfe near the 
Houfe of Peers, I heard the maid come down and tell the land- 
lady at the bar, that my Lord Bifhop fwore he would throw her 
out at window if fhe did not bring up more mild beer, and that 
my Lord Duke would have a double mug of purl. My furprife 
was increafed in hearing loud and ruflic voices fpeak and an- 
fwer to each other upon the public affairs by the names of the 
mofl illuflrious of our nobility ; till of a fudden one came 
running in, and cried the Houfe was riling. Down came all the 
company together, and away : The ale-houfe was immediately 
filled with clamour, and fcoring one mug to the Marquis of fuch 
a place, oil and vinegar to fuch an Earl, three quarts to my new 
Lord for wetting his title, and fo forth. It is a thing too noto- 



192 Notes and Illujlr at ions. 

rious to mention the crowds of fervants, and their infolence, 
near the courts of juftice, and the flairs towards the fupreme af- 
fembly, where there is an univerfal mockery of all order, fuch 
riotous clamour and licentious confufion, that one would think 
the whole nation lived in jeft, and there were no fuch thing as 
rule and diftin&ion among us." 

No. 96 of the Spectator and No. 87 of the Guardian are filled 
with the fame fubject. The fhort fketch, which ends the latter 
paper, of Lycurgus, " the Banker, the Council, and Parent of 
all his numerous Dependants," is a miniature copy of Sir Roger 
by the fame artift. 

Various attempts were made to reform domeftics ; and among 
them we find, in the firft iffue of the Spectator, (No. 224) the 
advertifement of a fociety for the encouragement of good fervants 
" at the office in Ironmonger Lane. The method," continues 
the advertifement, " has hitherto had very good effects, the 
benefits not being receivable without dutiful behaviour of the 
fervants and a good character from their mafter." 



Chap. IV. The Coverley Guest. 

No. 108. Wednefday, July 4, 1 7 1 1 . By Addifon. 

Page 34. Will Wimble is the younger Brother to a Baronet 
and defcended of the ancient Family of the Wimbles. This de- 
lineation, like the reft of the Spefiator's prominent characters, is 
too like life to have efcaped the imputation of having been drawn 
from it. The received ftory is, that Will Wimble was a Mr. 
Thomas Morecraft, younger fon of a Yorkfhire baronet. Steele 
knew this gentleman in early life and introduced him to Addifon, 
by whofe bounty he was for fome time fupported ; for, though 
excelling in fuch fmall and profitlefs arts as are attributed to Will 
Wimble, he had not the ingenuity to gain his own livelihood. 
When Addifon died, Mr. Morecraft went to Ireland to his friend 
the Bifhop of Kildare, at whofe houfe in Fiih Street, Dublin, he 
died in 1741. 

The attentive reader of the Tatler will find in it the germ 
of many of the characters in the Speclator — an additional 



Notes and Illujlrations. 193 

argument againft their having been drawn from actual indivi- 
duals. The honourable Mr. Thomas Gules, who indicted Peter 
Plum in the Court of Honour for taking the wall of him, (Tat- 
ter, No. 256) will at once be recognifed as the prototype of 
Will Wimble. " The profecutor alleged that he was the Ca- 
det of a very ancient family ; and that according to the princi- 
ples of all the younger brothers of the faid family, he had never 
fullied himfelf with bufinefs ; but had chofen rather to ttarve like 
a man of honour, than do anything beneath his quality. He 
produced feveral witneffes that he had never employed himfelf 
beyond the twilling of a whip, or the making of a pair of nut- 
crackers, in which he only worked for his diverfion, in order to 
make a prefent now and then to his friends." 



Chap. V. The Coverley Lineage. 

No. 109. Thurfday, July 5, 171 1. By Steele. 

Page 41. He was the lafi Man that won a Prize in the Tilt 
Yard. * * * I do not know but it might be exaftly where the 
Coffee Houfe is now. 

" South from Charing Crofs, on the right hand, in Stow's 
time, were divers handfome houfes lately built before the park ; 
then a large tilt yard for noblemen and others to exercife them- 
felves in jutting, turneying, and fighting at the barriers."* One 
of thefe " handfome houfes " afterwards became Jenny Man's 
" Tilt Yard Coffee Houfe " in Whitehall, upon the fite now 
occupied by the Paymafter General's office. It was the refort 
of military officers, until fupplanted by Slaughter's in St. Mar- 
tin's Lane ; which more recently was, in its turn, ruined by the 
military clubs. The Spectator ftates elfewhere that the mock 
military alfo frequented the Tilt Yard Coffee Houfe — fellows 
who figured in laced hats, black cockades, and fcarlet fuits, and 
who manfully pulled the nofes of quiet citizens who wore not 
fwords. 

* The Edition of Stoto (Folio 1720) by Seymour, otherwife J. Mottley, 
the compiler of Joe Miller's Jeft Book. 



N N 



1 94 Notes and Illujlrations. 

Page 42. Whereas the Ladies now walk as if they were in a 
Go-Cart. The hooped petticoat was revived, not long before the 
date of this paper, by a man tua- maker named Selby. Againftitkeen 
war was waged in the Spectator. No. 127 is wholly devoted 
to the fubjedl ; Sir Roger being incidentally enlifted as an ally. 
It hath ever been considered a foible of the fair fex to run into 
extremes ; and, while the promenade coflume of that day (and 
indeed of fcores of fucceeding years) was more ample than the 
prefent crowded ftate of population would allow, the equeftrian 
habit appears to have been tightened into a clofe imitation of 
male habiliments. — " I remember when I was at my friend Sir 
Roger de Coverley's," fays the Spectator, (July 18, 171 2) 
" about this time twelvemonth, an equeftrian lady of this order 
appeared upon the plains which lie at a diftance from his houfe. 
I was at that time walking in the fields with my old friend ; 
and as his tenants ran out on every fide to fee fo ftrange a fight, 
Sir Roger afked one of them who came by us what it was ? 
To which the country fellow replied, J Tis a gentlewoman, faving 
your worfhip's prefence, in a coat and hat. This produced a 
great deal of mirth at the knight's houfe, where we had a ftory 
at the fame time of another of his tenants, who meeting this gen- 
tleman-like lady on the highway, was afked by her whether that 
was Coverley-Hall, the honeft man feeing only the male part of 
the querift, replied, Tes, Sir ; but upon the fecond queftion, 
whether Sir Roger de Coverley was a married man, having 
dropped his eye upon the petticoat, he changed his notes into 
No, Madam." 



Chap. VI. The Coverley Ghost. 

No. no. Friday, July 6, 171 1. By Addifon. 

Page 46. Feedeth the young Ravens that call upon Him. 
" Who giveth fodder unto the cattle ; and feedeth the young 
ravens that call upon Him." — Pfalm cxlvii. 9. 

Page 48. Mr. Locke, in his Chapter of the Affociation of 
Ideas. — Efiay on Human Underftanding, Book ii. chap. 33, 
feftion 10. 



Notes and Illujirations. 1 95 



Chap. VII. The Coverley Sabbath. 

No. 112. Monday, July 9, 171 1. By Addifon. 

Page 54. Asfoon as the Sermon is fnijhed, nobody prefumes to 
fiir till Sir Roger is gone out of the Church. The church clofe 
to which Addifon was born, and where his father miniftered, 
may have fupplied fome of the traits to the exquifite picture of 
a rural Sabbath which this chapter prefents. 

The parifh church of Milfton is a modeft edifice, fituated in 
a combe or hollow of the Wiltfhire downs, about two miles 
north- weft of Amefbury. In the parfonage houfe — now an ho- 
noured ruin — on the 1 ft of May, 1672, Jofeph Addifon was born. 
It is only feparated from the grave-yard by a hawthorn fence, 
and muft have been, when inhabited, the beau ideal of a country 
parfonage. It has a fpacious garden, rich glebe, and commands 
a pretty view, bounded by the hill on which ftands the church 
of Durrington. 

Milfton church remains nearly in the fame ftate, as, during 
the firft twelve years of his life which Addifon palled under 
its fhadow. As no benevolent parifhioner took the hint con- 
veyed in Sir Roger's will, it is ftill without tower or fteeple ; 
the belfry being nothing more than a fmall louvered fhed. 
Within, the church is partitioned off by tall worm-eaten pews, 
and is fcarcely capable of holding a hundred perfons. At 
the eaft end ftands the communion table, " railed in." It was 
once lighted by a ftained glafs window ; but of this it was de- 
prived by the cupidity of a deceafed incumbent. The fame 
perfon was guilty of a worfe aft : — To oblige a friend — " a 
collector" — he actually tore out the leaf of the parilh regifter 
which contained the entry of Jofeph Addifon's birth. 

Milfton Church does not difplay the texts of Scripture attri- 
buted to the Coverley edifice. If any exifted when Addifon 
wrote, they muft have been iince effaced by white-waih. 



1 96 Notes and Illuftrations. 



Chap. VIII. Sir Roger in Love. 

No. 113. Tuefday, July 10, 171 1. By Steele. 

Page 65. The Widow is the fecret Qaufe of all that Incon- 
fiftency which appears in fome Parts of my Friend's Difcourfe. 
The notion that the perverfe widow had a living, charming, 
provoking, original, has been more prevalent and better fup- 
ported than that refpefting any of the reft of the Coverley cha- 
racters. Although a mere outline, — hinted rather than deline- 
ated amidft the pidlurefque group of laft century figures — fhe 
is fo fuggeftively fhadowed forth that the reader himfelf infenfibly 
vivifies the outline, feels her afcendency and doubles his pity 
for her kind-hearted viclim. " The dignity of her afpe£t, the 
compofure of her motion," and the polifh of her repartee — 
heightened by the foil of her fpiteful confidant — make us par- 
ticipate in Sir Roger's awe ; and, while we fympathife with 
his ardent admiration we tremble for the haplefs prefumption 
that afpires to " the fineft Hand of any Woman in the World." 
— Her fubtlety was unbounded. No coquette commands fuccefs 
who, befides varied refources, cannot ply her art with the 
chafteft dexterity ; and the Widow's omnipotence was attained 
lefs by her perfonal charms and mental graces, than by the deli- 
cacy of her lures and the nice difcrimination with which they 
were fpread. 

Thefe faint but variegated tints are fo truthfully blended 
in the Widow, that not only general readers, but acute critics 
have believed, that nothing fhort of the minuteft experience of 
an equally defperate fuit to an equally coy and fafcinating ori- 
ginal, could have infpired and executed the likenefs. Both Ad- 
difon and Steele had fufFered from perverfe Widows; and who 
knows but this "confluence of congenial fentiment" fpringing 
from a like fource was one caufe of thefe differently conftituted 
men being long united in friendfhip ? 

The tantalifing dominion under which Addifon fufFered 
when the Coverley papers were in progrefs, was exercifed by the 
Countefs Dowager of Warwick, whom he was anxioufly court- 
ing ; " perhaps," fays Dr. Johnfon " with behaviour not very 



Notes and Illujlrations. igy 

unlike that of Sir Roger to his difdainful widow." The re- 
mit, though different, was not happier than Sir Roger's deftiny. 
Not till four years after the Coverley papers had been finifhed 
did Addifon fucceed in his fuit. "On the 2nd Auguft 17 16" 
continues the biographer of the poets " he married the Countefs, 
on terms much like thofe on which a Turkifh Princefs is ef- 
poufed; to whom the Sultan is reported to pronounce 'Daughter, 
I give thee this man for thy Have ! ' " This marriage was only 
a change from one fort of unhappinefs to another, — from the 
intermittent vexations of a flighted lover, to the chronic miferies 
of an ill-matched hufband. 

Probability however rejects Lady Warwick as the model we 
feek. To find it we mull, it is faid, turn to Steele's tormen- 
trefs. Addifon's fufferings were in full force when the fketch 
was made ; Steele's were paft. Addifon's tortures were too 
real and operative for the unchecked flow of that genial humour 
— for that fine tolerance of the Widow's cruelty — which 
pervades every allufion to her: Steele's pains had, on the 
contrary, been firffc afTuaged by time and then, let us hope, ex- 
tinguifhed by matrimony with another — and another. While 
therefore experience had made him mafter of a Widow's arts, 
the retrofpedt, of what he had fuffered from them was too remote 
to darken the fhadows, or to four the expreffion of the portrait. 
Hence it is his fignature that appears to this paper, and his Wi- 
dow who is faid to have infpired them. 

The information on which this belief is grounded is derived 
from Chalmers through Archdeacon Nares, to whom it was 
communicated by the Rev. Duke Yonge of Plympton in Devon- 
fhire. (t My attention " fays the reverend gentleman " was firft 
drawn to this fubjecl by a very vague tradition in the family of 
Sir Thomas Crawley Boevey, of Flaxley Abbey in Gloucefter- 
lhire, that Mrs. Catherine Boevey, widow of William Boevey, 
Efq., and who died January 21, 1726 was the original from 
whence the pidlure of the perverfe widow in the Spectator was 
drawn. She was left a widow at the early age of 22, and by 
her portrait (now at Flaxley Abbey and drawn at a more ad- 
vanced period of her life) appears to have been a woman of a 
handfome, dignified figure, as fhe is defcribed to have been in 



198 Notes and Illuflrations. 

the 113th No. of the Spectator. She was a perfonage well 
known and much diftinguilhed in her day, and is defcribed 
very refpectably in the New Atalantis, under the name of Por- 
tia. From thefe fads I was induced to examine whether any 
internal evidence could be traced in the Spectator to juftify the 
tradition. The refult of that enquiry is as follows : — 

" The papers in the Speflator which give the defcription of 
the widow, were certainly written by Steele, and that Mrs. 
Boevey was well known to Steele, and held by him in high 
eftimation, is equally certain. He dedicates the three volumes 
of the e Lady's Library ' to three different ladies. Lady Bur- 
lington, Mrs. Boevey, and Mrs. Steele; he defcribes each of 
them in terms of the higher*, commendation, but each of them 
is diilinguifhed by very difcriminating characteriftics. However 
exalted the characters of Lady Burlington, or Mrs. Steele, there 
is not one word in the dedication to either which correfponds 
to the character of the widow; but the characters of Mrs. Bo- 
evey and the Widow are drawn with marks of very finking 
coincidence. No. 1 1 3 of the Spettator, as far as it relates to 
the Widow is almofl a parody on the character of Mrs. Boevey, 
as mown in the dedication. Sir Roger tells his friend that me 
is a reading lady, and that her difcourfe was as learned as the 
beft philofopher could poffibly make. She reads upon the na- 
ture of plants, and underftands everything. In the dedication 
Steele fays, ' inftead of aflemblies and converfations, books and 
folitude have been your choice : you have charms of your own 
fex, and knowledge not inferior to the moft learned of ours.' 
In No. 1 1 8, f her fuperior merit is fiich ' fays Sir Roger, 
f that I cannot approach her without awe, my heart is checked 
by too much efteem.' Dedication. ' Your perfon and fortune 
equally raife the admiration and awe of our whole fex.' 

" She is defcribed as having a Confidant, as the Knight calls 
her, to whom he expreffes a peculiar averfion, No. 1 1 8 being 
chiefly on that fubject. ' Of all perfons ' fays the good old 
Knight, ' be fure to fet a mark on confidants.' I know not 
whether the lady was deferving of the Knight's reprobation, 
but Mrs. Boevey certainly had a female friend of this defcrip- 
tion, of the name of Pope, who lived with her more than forty 



Notes and Illujl rations. 199 

years, whom fhe left executrix, and who it is believed in the 
family did not execute her office in the moft liberal manner." 

The communication goes on to ftate that Mrs. Boevey's 
refidence, Flaxley Abbey, was not far from the borders of 
Worcefterihire ; but that there was no tradition in the family 
of her having had fuch a law fuit as is defcribed by Sir Roger. 
Indeed, a reference to dates mows fuch a circumftance to have 
been impomble, unlefs the phenomenon of a widow of nine 
years old could be credited. Mr. Boevey died in 1691, when 
his wife was twenty-two ; now as the Spectator, fixed the old 
Knight's age at fifty-fix, and as Sir Roger himfelf affirms that 
the Widow firft " call her bewitching eye upon him " in his 
twenty-third year, that fatal glance muft have flamed in 1678, 
when Mrs. Boevey was in her girlhood. But this weighs not 
a feather in the fcale of evidence ; no true artift copies every trait 
of his fubjecl, and the verfimilitude is not diminilhed becaufe 
the Gloucefterfhire enflaver was younger and not fo litigious as 
the Worcefterihire enchantrefs. 

Mrs. Boevey died January 21, 1726-7 in her 57th year, 
and was buried in the family vault at Flaxley with an infcription 
on the walls of the chapel to her memory. There is alfo a mo- 
nument to her in Weftminfter Abbey, eredled by her executrix. 

Sir Roger's Widow will never die. 



Chap. IX. The Coverley Economy. 

No. 114. Wednefday, July 11, 171 1. By Steele. 

Page 68. He zuould fave four JbUlings in the Pound. The 
land tax; which from 1689 was continued by annual enact- 
ments, till Lowndes's a£t fixed it at 4/. in the pound. Gay ad- 
drefTed an epiftle in verfe " to my ingenious and worthy friend 
William Lowndes, efq. author of the celebrated treatife in folio 
called the land tax bill." Some of the lines run thus :— 

" Thy copious Preamble fo fmoothly runs, 
Taxes no more appear like Legal Duns, 
Lords, Knights, and Squires the ArTelTor's Power obey ; 
We read with Pleafure though with Pain we pay." 



200 Notes and Illujirations. 

" Poets of Old had fuch a wondrous Power, 
That with their Verfes they could raife a tower ; 
But, in thy Profe, a greater Force is found — 
What Poet ever raifed Three Thoufand Pound?" 

In 1 799 the land tax was made perpetual. 



Chax. X. The Coverley Hunt. 

Nos. 115 and 116. Friday July 13, and Saturday 14, 
1 7 1 1 . The former paper is by Addifon, the latter by Euftace 
Budgell. 

Page 72. Such a fyftem of Tubes and Glands as has been be- 
fore mentioned: — viz. in the Commencement of No. 115. " I 
confider the Body as a fyftem of Tubes and Glands, or to ufe 
a more Ruftick Phrafe, a Bundle of Pipes and Strainers, fitted 
to one another after fo wonderful a manner as to make a proper 
Engine for the Soul to work with." 

Page 73. His fable Doors are patched with Nofes that be- 
longed to Foxes of the Knight's own hunting down. Although 
the Speclator advocated in this, and other pages, moderate in- 
dulgence in the Sports of the Field, the exceffive paffion of 
Country Gentlemen for them, to the exclufion of more intel- 
lectual paftimes, he elfewhere deplores. In a later volume he 
quotes a faying that the curfe fulminated by Goliah having 
miffed David, had refted on the modern Squire :-— " I will give 
thee to the fowls of the air, and to the beafts of the field." 
The Country Gentleman was refpecled by his neighbours, lefs 
for morality or intellect, than for the number of Foxes' nofes he 
could mow nailed to his ftables and barns. 

The fedentary, though affuredly lefs healthful and refpe&able 
games and paftimes introduced by Charles the Second and his 
followers from abroad, had not, even in Queen Anne's day, be- 
come fo thoroughly naturalized as they were afterwards ; and 
ladies keenly participated in the fports of the field. The Queen 
he rfelf followed the hounds in a chaife with one horfe, " which" 
fays Swift " fhe drives herfelf ; and drives furioufly, like Jehu ; 
and is a mighty hunter, like Nimrod." She was, if Stella's journal- 



Notes and Illujirations. 201 

ift did not exaggerate, quite equal to runs even longer than thofe 
performed by the Co verley hounds ; for, on the 7 th Auguft, 1 7 1 1 , 
fhe drove before dinner five and forty miles after a flag. 

Page 7 5 . Sir Roger has difpofed of his Beagles and got a pack 
of Stop-hounds. We infer from Blaine's Rural Sports, that when 
one of thefe hounds found the fcent, he gave notice of his good 
fortune by deliberately fquatting to impart more effect, to his 
deep tones, and to get wind for a frefh Hart. 

Page 79. The Huntfman threw down his pole before the dogs. 
The undrained, uncultivated condition of the country in Sir 
Roger's days, made hunting on horfeback by no means fo eafy 
as it is at prefent. The mailer of the pack therefore could fol- 
low ftraighter over bogs, moraffes, and ditches, on foot, than 
the fquire could on horfeback. To amft him in leaping, the pe- 
deftrian hunter ufed a pole. Some of the leaps taken in this man- 
ner would mrprife an equeftrian huntfman of the prefent day. 

Page 76. Sir Roger is fo keen at this Sporty that he has been 
out almoji every Day fine ~e I came here. The Spec! at or arrived 
at Coverley Hall on one of the laft days of June, and the hunt 
defcribed in the paper dated as above is faid to have taken place 
"yefterday." Mr. Budgell — who was the fon of a Devonfhire 
efquire — ought to have known better than to make Sir Roger 
indulge in his favourite fport fo decidedly out of feafon. It is 
a wonder how fo grave a miftake efcaped editorial revifion. 

Page 80. The Lines out of Mr. Dry den — occur in "An Epif- 
tle to his kinfman, J. Dryden, Efquire, of Cheftertorj." 



Chap. XI. The Coverley Witch, 

No. 117. Saturday, July 14, 171 1. By Addifon. 

Page 83. The following defcription in Otway. The lines 
quoted in the text are from the fecond Act of the Orphan. 

Page 86. / hear there is fcarce a Village in England, that 
has not a Moll White. The belief in witchcraft was in Anne's 
reign fo me thing more than merely popular. The aft of James 
(Anno: 1. cap. 12) was in full force. By it death was decreed 

o o 



202 Notes and Illujlrations. 

to whoever dealt with evil or wicked fpirits, or invoked them 
whereby any perfons were killed or lamed ; or difcovered where 
anything was hidden, or provoked unlawful love, &c. Under 
this law two women were executed at Northampton juft before 
the Spectator began to be publifhed ; and, not long after, (1716) 
a Mrs. Hicks and her daughter were hanged at Huntingdon for 
felling their fouls to the devil, making their neighbours vomit 
pins, railing a ftorm fo that a certain fhip was "almoft " loft, and a 
variety of other impoffible crimes. By 1736 thefe fuperftitions 
abated ; the Witch A61 had become dormant ; and, on an igno- 
rant perfon attempting in that year to enforce it againft an old 
woman in Surrey, it was repealed (10th Geo. II.) 



Chap. XII. The Coverley Love Match. 
Spectator, No. 118. Monday, July 16, 171 1. By Steele. 



Chap. XIII. The Coverley Etiquette. 

No. 119. Tuefday, July 17, 1711. By Addifon. 

Page 98. The wo?nen in many parts are ftill trying to vie 
with each other in the height of their head drejfes. This, at 
the date of the prefent paper, was being decidedly " behind the 
fafhion:" for in 171 1, the mode changed. Still the provin- 
cials had their excuies, for in No. 98, the Spectator affirms that 
there is no fuch variable thing in nature as a lady's head-drefs : 
" Within my own Memory I have known it rife and fall above 
thirty Degrees, About ten years ago it mot up to a very great 
height, infomuch that the female part of our fpecies were much 
taller than men. The women were of fuch an enormous ftature, 
that we appeared as Grafshoppers before them : At prefent the 
whole fex is in a manner dwarfed and fhrunk into a Race of 
Beauties that feems almoft another fpecies. I remember feveral 
ladies, who were once very near feven foot high, that at prefent 
want fome inches of five : how they came to be thus curtailed 
I cannot learn." 



Notes and Illuftrations. 203 

Befides the numerous papers devoted to women's attire, the 
whole of No. 265 is a fatire on the fingle fubject of head-dreffes. 
This frequent recurrence to the fmall abfurdities of female fafhion 
is faid to have damaged the profperity of the Spectator. Soon 
after the appearance of the above cited number, Swift writes 
impatiently in his Journal, " I will not meddle with the Spec- 
tator : let him fair-fex it to the world's end." 



Chap. XIV. The Coverley Ducks. 

Nos. 120 and 121. Wednefday, July 1 8th, and ThurfdaVj 
19th, 171 1. By Addifon. 



Chap. XV. Sir Roger on the Bench. 

Spectator, No. 1 22. Friday, July 20th, 1 7 1 1 . By Addifon. 

Page 106. He is juft within the Game Aft. The 3rd of 
James the Firfl, chap. 1 4, claufe v. provides that if any perfon 
who has not real property producing forty pounds per Ann. : 
or who has not two hundred pounds worth of goods and 
chattels, lhall prefume to fhoot game ; " Then any perfon 
having lands, tenements, or hereditaments, of the clear yearly 
value of one hundred pounds a year, may take from the perfon 
or poffemon of fuch malefactor or malefactors, and to his own 
ufe for ever keep, fuch guns, bows, crofs-bows, buckitalls, engine- 
hays, nets, ferrets, and coney dogs, &c." This amiable enact- 
ment — which permitted' a one-hundred-pound-freeholder to 
become in his fingle perfon, accufer, witnefs, judge, jury, and 
executioner ; and which made an equally resectable but poorer 
man who lhot a hare a " malefactor " — was the law of the land 
even fo lately as 1827, for it was only repealed by the 7th and 
8th Geo. IV. chap. 27. 



204 Notes and Illuftrations. 



Chap. XVI. The Story of an Heir. 

No. 123. Saturday, July 21, 171 1. By Addifon. 

Page 113. Eudoxus and Leontine began the world with fmall 



<( Being very well pleafed with this day's Spectator, (writes 
Mr. Addifon to Mr. Wortley, under date 'July 21, 1711 '), 
I cannot forbear fending you one of them, and defiring your 
opinion of the ftory in it. When you have a fon I mall be glad 
to be his Leontine, as my circumftances will probably be like 
his. I have within this twelve-month loft a place of 2000/. 
per annum, an eftate in the Indies of 14,000/., and what is 
worfe than all the reft, my miftrefs. Hear this and wonder 
at my philofophy. I find they are going to take away my Irifh 
place from me too : to which I muft add, that I have juft 
religned my fellowfhip, and that the flocks fink every day. If 
you have any hints or fubjecls, pray fend me up a paper full. I 
long to talk an evening with you. I believe I fhall not go to 
Ireland this fummer, and perhaps would pafs a month with 
you, if I knew where. Lady Bellafis is very much your humble 
fervant. Dick Steele and I often remember you." 

Of the eftate in " the Indies " — referred to alfo by Swift- 
no intelligible notice has been found. The miftrefs was pro- 
bably the perverfe widow, the Countefs ; who, at that date, had 
perhaps caft him off "for ever" — after the manner of capricious 
ladies — feveral times during a fingle courtfhip. 



Chap. XVII. Sir Roger and Party Spirit. 

Nos. 125 and 126. Wednefday, July 25th, and Thurfday 
26th, 171 1. Both by Addifon. 

Page 1 20. This worthy knight had occajion to enquire which 
was the way to St. Anne's lane. There were two St. Anne's 
lanes which might have coft Sir Roger trouble to find ; one 



Notes and Illujlrations. 205 

" on the north fide of St. Martin's-le-Grand juft within Alderf- 
gate Street," (Stow); and the other — which it requires fharp 
eyes to find in Strype's map — turning out of Great Peter Street, 
Weftminfter. Mr. Peter Cunningham, in his admirable Hand 
Book for London, prefers fuppofmg Sir Roger enquiring his way 
in Weftminfter. 

Page 121. S ir Roger generally clofes bis narrative with reflec- 
tions on the Mif chief that Parties do in the County. There is 
fcarcely a period when party fpirit raged fo fiercely as at the 
date of thefe numbers of the Spectator j for, although faftion had 
long fheathed the fword, the tongue in cofFee-houfes and the pen 
in pamphlets were never more bitterly or rancoroufly employed. 
Only a few months previoufly, the trial of Dr. Sachevrel and the 
" bed-chamber cabal" — of which Mrs. Mafham was chief— 
had overturned the Godolphin miniftry ; and had brought in the 
Tories with Harley at their head, backed by a new and emi- 
nently Tory Houfe of Commons, with Whiggery enough in 
the Upper Houfe and in the camarilla, to keep the flames of 
party in full glow. So nearly were fides balanced in the Houfe 
of Lords, that to carry the peace project, which ended in the 
treaty of Utrecht, Anne was afterwards obliged to make twelve 
new Tory Peers — a "jury" of fuch well packed Tories, that 
a Whig wit afked one of them if they intended to vote by their 
"foreman." The Duchefs of Somerfet was ftill retained about 
the perfon of the Queen ; and counteracted, in part, the fubtle 
Tory whifperings of Mrs. Mafham into Anne's ear. The lu- 
crative employments of the Duchefs of Marlborough were divided 
between thefe two favourites. The Duke was on the eve of being 
impeached for peculation, and his regiment had actually been 
transferred to Hill, Mrs. Mafham's brother. The Whigs violently 
advocated the continuance of a war which Marlborough's vic- 
tories had made at once fo profitable to his private fortune and 
fo glorious to the nation. The Tories and the Queen ftrove 
equally for peace : nor did this conteft fufpend the Church 
controverfy which Sachevrel's trial had brought to ifTue without 
deciding. 

Thefe queftions ranged the Britifh Public, into two ranks, un- 
der Whig and Tory banners ; and carried the battle into private 



206 Notes and Illuftrations. 

life in the manner not lefs truthfully than humor oufly defcribed 
in the text, and in various other chapters of the Spectator. Fa- 
milies were eftranged and friendships broken up,efpecially amongft 
thofe who played prominent parts in the ftruggle — fuch as Swift 
on the Tory, and Addifon and Steele on the Whig fide. Yet it 
is gratifying to obferve, that the foftening influences of literature 
afforded a lingering link of union to thefe men even after they 
were in political oppofition. Swift, the foremoft party pamphleteer 
of his day, did not fcruple to ufe his influence with Harley, in fa- 
vour of " Paftoral " Philips, Congreve, and on one occafion for 
Steele. On the day of publication of the paper which forms part 
of our prefent chapter, (Thurfday, July 26th, 1 7 1 1), Swift, Ad- 
difon, and Steele, dined together at young Jacob Tonfon's, "Mr. 
Addifon and I talked as ufual, and as if we had feen one another 
yefterday ; and Steele and I were very eafy, though I wrote him 
a biting letter in anfwer to one of his, where he defired me to 
recommend a friend of his to the Lord Treafurer." Again, un- 
der a later date, Swift writes to Stella, " I met Paftoral Philips 
and Mr. Addifon on the Mall to-day, and took a turn with 
them ; but they looked terribly dry and cold. A curfe on 
Party ! " 

The bonds of other clafles of fociety were more forcibly riven. 
The lower the grade the more inveterate the contention : for, 
as Pope faid about that time, (< There never was any party, 
faction, feci:, or cabal whatfoever, in which the moft ignorant 
were not the moft violent ; for a bee is not a bulier animal than 
a blockhead." Even trade was tainted by the poifon of party. 
The buying, in its dealings with the felling public, more gene- 
rally enquired into the political principles of tradefmen, than 
into the excellence or defects of their wares. Inn-keepers as we 
find in the text were efpecially fubjedted to this rule, and their 
politics were known by the figns at their doors. Addifon's "Free- 
holder's" introduction to the Tory fox hunter was commenced 
by the recommendation of a hoft — ' l A lufty fellow, that lives 
well, is at leaft three yards in the girt, and is the beft Church 
of England man upon the road." 

Not the leaft confpicuous partizans were, alas, of the gentler 
fex ; for the chiefs of each faction were women, and their the- 



Notes and Illuftrations. 207 

atre of war the Queen's bedchamber. The petty expedients of 
each faction to diflinguifh itfelf in public from the other, are hap- 
pily ridiculed in various parts of the Spectator. At the play 
Whig and Tory ladies fat at oppofite rides of the houfe, and 
" patched " on oppofite fides of their faces : — "I mull here 
take notice, that Rofalinda, a famous Whig partizan, has moft 
unfortunately a very beautiful Mole on the Tory part of her 
forehead ; which being very confpicuous, has occafioned many 
miftakes, and given an handle to her enemies to mifreprefent 
her face, as though it had revolted from the Whig intereft. But 
whatever this natural patch may feem to inlinuate, it is well 
known that her notions of government are ftill the fame. This 
unlucky Mole, however, has milled feveral coxcombs ; and like 
the hanging out of falfe colours, made fome of them converfe 
with Rofalinda in what they thought the fpirit of her party, 
when on a fudden fhe has given them an unexpected fire, that 
has funk them all at once. If Rofalinda is unfortunate in her 
Mole, Nigranilla is as unhappy in a Pimple, which forces her, 
againft her inclination, to patch on the Whig fide." No. 81. 

So angry were the Whig ladies with the Queen when fhe 
prefented Prince Eugene with the jewelled fword, that they 
abftained in a body from appearing at Court on that occafion : 
—which being that of Her Majefty's birthday was evidence of 
unprecedented party rancour. 



Chap. XVIII. The Coverley Gipseys. 
No. 130. Monday, July 30th, 171 1. By Addifon. 

Chap. XIX. A Summons to London. 

Spettator, No. 131. Tuefday, July 31ft, 171 1. By Ad- 
difon. 

Page 133. What they here call a White Witch. According 
to popular belief, there were three claffes of Witches ; — White, 



2o8 Notes and Illuftrations. 

Black, and Gray. The firft helped, but could not hurt; the 
fecond the reverfe, and the third did both. White Spirits caufed 
flolen goods to be reftored ; they charmed away difeafes, and did 
other beneficent adls ; neither did a little harmlefs mifchief lie 
wholly out of their way : — Dry den fays 

Si At leafl as little honeft as he could, 
And like White Witches mifchievoufly good." 



Chap. XX. The Journey from Coverley Hall. 

No. 132. Wednefday, Auguft 1, 171 1. By Steele. 

Page 136. As foon as we arrived at the Inn, the Servant en- 
quired of the Chamberlain what Company he had for the Coach ? 
The befl poffible illuftration of this palfage is Hogarth's print 
of the Inn yard. The landlady in her femicircular glafs cafe, 
or penthoufe bar ; the parting drams being imbibed by the 
coachman and by fome of the leave-takers ; the ileepinefs of 
the oftlers and porters, and the deliberation of the paffengers 
fhow how a journey was then commenced. The enquiry made 
by the fervant was ufual. It was a pardonable curiofity in the 
Spectator to try and learn with whom he was to be jumbled 
over rugged roads for the three entire days which were con- 
fumed by a ftage coach in a fingle tranfit from Worcefter to 
London. 

Although it was more than a half century later before any 
great advance in road-making took place, yet the dawn of im- 
provement in carriages was jufl beginning to break. To the 
Speclator for June 24, 1 7 1 1 , is appended the following adver- 
tifement : 

" Whereas Her Majefty has been gracioufly pleafed lately to 
grant Letters Patent to Henry Mill, Gent, for the Sole Ufe and 
Benefit of making and vending certain Steel Springs by him in- 
vented for the Eafe of Perfons riding in Chaifes, &c. They 
effectually prevent all Jolts on Kennels and Rugged Ways." 

Page 137. The Captain's Half-Pike. The foldier's pike 



Notes and Illujl rat ions. 209 

had been recently fuperfeded by the focket bayonet. Non- 
commiffioned officers however retained the halbert, and officers 
their half-pike. The Duke of Monmouth is defcribed at the 
battle of Sedgemoor as having rufhed about on foot among his 
broken levies to encourage them " pike in hand." 

Page 140. Our Reckonings, Apartments and Accommodation 
fell under Ephraim. This duty was rather onerous, on account 
of the number of floppages on the road, the confequent multi- 
plicity of reckonings, and the equal number of attempts at 
over-charge. It was the cuitom for the male to pay for the 
refreihments of the female paffengers. This was often felt as 
a grievous tax, and was in fome cafes refilled. Thorefby, in 
recording in his diary a flage-coach journey from Wakefield to 
London in 17 14, Hates that on the third day there was an ac- 
ceffion of paffengers, "which, though Females, were more charge- 
able in Wine and Brandy than the former Part of the journey, 
wherein we had neither; but the Next Day we gave them 
Leave to Treat Themfelves." 

Page 140. The right we had of taking Place, as going to 
London; of all Vehicles coming from thence. This rule of the 
road was occafioned by the bad condition of the public ways. 
On the bell lines of communication ruts were fo deep and ob- 
llruclions fo formidable that it was only in fine weather that 
the whole breadth of the road was available, for on each fide 
was often a quagmire of mud. Seldom could two vehicles pafs 
each other unlefs one of them Hopped. Which that fhould be 
caufed endlefs difputes, and not a few accidents. Some obflinate 
drivers preferred difputation, and even collifion and broken 
wheels or broken bones, to "pulling up" in deference to a rival 
Jehu. At fuch times the path was blocked up for hours, and 
when an accumulation of vehicles was the confequence, the end 
was a general fight amongfl the carriers, carters, and coachmen. 
—Single combat alfo arofe, from a like caufe, among pedeflrians 
in the llreets to fettle the important queilion of who mould 
"take the wall." This was a real privilege when, in ordi- 
nary weather, the edge of the foot-path was heaped with mud ; 
and, on wet days, ilreams poured upon it from the eaves of the 
houfes. 



P P 



2 1 o Notes and Illujlrations. 



Chap. XXI. Sir Roger in London. 

No. 269. Tuefday, January 8, 17 12. By Addifon. 

Page 1 44. He told me that his Mafter was come up to get a 
Sight of Prince Eugene. The Prince's miffion to this country 
was no lefs popular than his victories — gained in affociation 
with Marlborough — had made his perfon. It was to urge the 
profecution with Auftria of the war againft France in terms of the 
treaty of 1706, and to endeavour to reftore to the Queen's favour 
his great ally the Duke, who had only four days before his arrival 
been difmifTed with difgrace from all his employments. " Grati- 
tude, efteem, the partnerfhip in fo many military operations," 
we read in Prince Eugene's Autobiography, " and pity for a per- 
fon in difgrace, caufed me to throw myfelf with emotion into 
Marlborough's arms." 

Nothing could exceed the enthufiaftic reception with which 
Eugene was greeted ; and, an adroit illuflration of the eagernefs 
of the public to behold him, is the bringing Sir Roger up to 
London folely for that purpofe, only two days after the Prince's 
appearance. " The knight " fays the Spectator, " made me 
promife to get him a ftand in fome convenient place where he 
might have a full view of that extraordinary man." This was 
in facl: a neceflity ; for whenever the Prince ventured in the 
ftreets, he was befet by eager multitudes, from the evening of 
his arrival (5th January, 17 12) till his departure. 

While there was a chance of gaining over the illuftrious en- 
voy, the Court party joined in the general homage, and on her 
birth-day, Anne gave the Prince a jewelled fword, valued at 
£4,500. Then Swift, at firrt fight, "did'nt think him an ugly 
faced fellow, but well enough ; and a good fhape." {Journal, 
Jan. 1 3). Eugene was not to be won ; and perfifled in pairing 
moft of his time with Marlborough : whom Harley, the lord 
treafurer, had juft ftripped of his title of general. One day at 
dinner, while Harley was plying the prince with flattery and 
depreciating Marlborough, he called Eugene the Jirjl General 
in Europe. i( If I am fo," faid the prince, " 'tis to your lordfhip 



Notes and Illujirations, 211 

I am indebted for that diftinction." Both by words and be- 
haviour, therefore, Prince Eugene firmly adhered to the caufe he 
had come over to advance, and he fell into utter difrepute with 
the Tory or peace party. Then it was that Swift, eager as the 
reft, got a fecond glimpfe of the great man ; but the fame pair 
of eyes jaundiced with party prejudice found him " plaguy yel- 
low and literally ugly befides." {Journal, Feb. 10.) 

Meanwhile the illuftrious Envoy was the idol of the populace 
and of the whigs. He returned their idolatry by a pleafing 
affability while in public; and by a variety of fmall but agree- 
able courtefies in private. Amongft thefe it muft be noted that 
he flood fponfor to Steele's fecond fon. The whig ladies pro- 
feffed to be in love with him, and returned a compliment often 
paid to themfelves by making him their toaft. In company, he 
had, according to Burnet, " a moft unaffected modefty, and 
does fcarcely bear the acknowledgements that all the world 
pay him.'' 

His popularity was gall to the Tories, who with a too-preva- 
lent and mean revenge fet about fhowering libels upon him. On 
the 17th of March, Prince Eugene retired from this country: 
his difguft and difappointment flightly tempered by the kindnefs 
of the Queen ; who, at parting, gave him her portrait. 

A running fire of fquibs and pamphlets was kept up again ft 
the Tories on account of their cringing reception, and fpiteful 
difmiffal of the illuftrious vifitor. One was advertifed in No. 
471 of the Spectator as " Prince Eugene not the Man you 
took him for ; or a Merry Tale of a Modern Hero. Price 6d. 

Page 144. " / was no fooner come into Grays-Inn Walks, 
but I heard my Friend upon the Terrace hemming twice or 
thrice to himfelf, for he loves to clear his Pipes in good Air." 
Gray's Inn gardens formed for a long time a fafhionable pro- 
menade. The chief entrance to them was Fulwood's Rents 
now a pent-up retreat for fqualid poverty ; yet, in Sir Ro- 
ger's day, no place was better adapted for " clearing his 
pipes in good air," for fcarcely a houfe intervened thence to 
Hampftead. A contemporary fatirift (but who can fcarcely be 
quoted without an apology) affords a graphic defcription of this 
promenade ; — "I found none but a parcel of Superannuated 



212 Notes and Illuftrations. 

Debauchees huddled up in Cloaks, Frieze Coats, and Wadded 
Gowns, to preferve their old Carcaffes from the Sharpnefs of 
Hampftead Air ; creeping up and down in Pairs and Leafhes no 
falter than the Hand of a Dial or a County Convict going to 
Execution : fome talking of Law, fome of Religion, and fome 
of Politics. — After I had taken two or three Turns round, I 
fat myfelf down in the Upper Walk, where juft before me on a 
Stone Pedeftal was fixed an old rufty Horizontal Dial with the 
Gnomon broke fhort off."* Round this fundial, feats were ar- 
ranged in a femi-circle. 

Gray's Inn Gardens were reforted to by lefs reputable cha- 
racters than the beggar whom good Sir Roger fcolded and re- 
lieved. Expert pickpockets and plaufible ring-droppers found 
eafy prey there on crowded days. In the plays of the period, 
Gray's Inn Gardens are frequently mentioned as a place of aflig- 
nation for clandestine lovers. 

Page 147. The late Aft of Parliament for fe curing the 
Church of England. The 10th Anne, Cap. 2. " An A6t for 
preferving the Proteitant Religion by better fecuring the Church 
of England as by law eftabliihed," &c. It was known popularly 
as the a£t of" Occasional Conformity." 

Page 148. The Pope's Procejfion. Each anniverfary of Queen 
Elizabeth's accemon (Nov. 1 7) was for many years celebrated 
by the citizens of London in a manner exprefhve of their detef- 
tation of the Church of Rome. A proceffion — at times fuffici- 
ently attractive for royal fpe&ators — paraded the principal ftreets, 
the chief figure being an effigy of 

" The Pope, that Pagan full of pride," 

well executed in wax and expensively adorned with robes and 
a tiara. He was accompanied by a train of cardinals and jefuits ; 
and at his ear ftood a buffoon in the likenefs of a horned devil. 
After having been paraded through divers ftreets, His Holinefs 
was exultingly burnt oppofite to the Whig club near the Temple 
gate in Fleet Street. After the difcovery of the Rye Houfe plot, 

* Ward's London Spy, vol. i. p. 384. 



Notes and Illujirations. 213 

the Pope's proceffion was difcontinued ; but was refufcitated on 
the acquittal of the feven bifhops and dethronement of James II. 
Sacheverel's trial had added a new intereft to the ceremony; and 
on the occafion referred to by Sir Roger, befides a popular dread 
of the Church being — from the liftlefihefs of the Minifters and 
the machinations of the Pretender — in danger, there was a very 
general oppofition to the peace with France, for which the Tories 
were intriguing. The party cry of " No peace" was fhouted 
in the fame breath with " No popery. " 

The Whigs were determined, it was faid, to give fignificance 
and force to thefe watchwords by getting up the anniverfary 
fhow of 171 1 with unprecedented fplendour. No good Pro- 
teftant, no honeft hater of the French could refufe to fubfcribe 
his guinea for fuch an object ; and it was faid, upwards of a thou- 
fand pounds were collected for the effigies and their drefles and 
decorations alone ; independent of a large fund for incidental 
expenfess The Pope, the Devil, and the Pretender were, it was 
reported, fafhioned in the likenefs of the obnoxious Cabinet 
Minifters. The proceffion was to take place at night, and " a 
thoufand mob " were, it was afferted, to be hired to carry flam- 
beaux at a crown a piece and as much beer and brandy as would 
inflame them for mifchief. The pageant was to open with 
" twenty-four bagpipes marching four and four, and playing the 
memorable tune of Lillibullero." Prefently was to come " a 
figure reprefenting Cardinal Gaulteri, (lately made by the Pre- 
tender protector of the Englifh nation), looking down on the 
ground in forrowful pofture ; " his train fupported by two 
miffionaries from Rome, fuppofed to be now in England." — 
" Two pages throwing beads, bulls, pardons, and indulgences." 
— <( Two jack puddings fprinkling holy-water." — " Twelve 
hautboys playing the e Greenwood tree.' " — Then were to fuc- 
ceed " Six beadles with proteftant flails," and after a variety of 
other fatirical mummers the grand centre piece was to fhow 
itfelf: — et The pope under a magnificent canopy, with a right 
filver fringe, accompanied by the Chevalier St. George on the 
left and his councellor the devil on his right." The whole 
proceffion was to clofe with twenty ftreamers difplaying this 
couplet wrought on each, 



2 1 4 Notes and Illujtrations. 



" God blefs Queen Anne, the nation's great defender, 
Keep out the French, theTope, and the Pretender." 

To be ready for this grand fpectacle the figures were depofited 
at a houfe in Drury Lane, whence the proceffion was to march 
(" with proper reliefs of lights at feveral ftations") to St. James's 
Square, thence through Pall Mall, the Strand, Drury Lane, and 
Holborn to Bifhopfgate Street, and return through St. Paul's 
Church Yard to the bonfire in Fleet Street. "After proper 
ditties were fung, the Pretender was to have been committed 
to the flames, being firfl abfolved by the Cardinal Gaulteri. After 
that the faid cardinal was to be abfolved by the Pope and burnt. 
And then the devil was to jump into the flames with his holi- 
nefs in his arms."* 

According, however, to the Tories, who fpread the rnofl ex- 
aggerated reports of thefe preparations, there were to have been 
certain accidents which were duly and deliberately contrived 
beforehand by the confpirators. Befides the great conflagration 
of the Sovereign Pontiff, there was to have been feveral fupple- 
mentary bonfires in the line of march, into which certain 
adlors of the fhow were to fling a mock copy of the preliminary 
articles of peace. This was to be the fignal for a general excla- 
mation of " No peace ! " Horfe meffengers had alfo been en- 
gaged — fo wrote the Cabinet fcribes — to gallop into the crowd 
" as if to break their necks, their hacks all foam" to cry out 
" the Queen is dead at Hampton Court ! " Lord Wharton and 
feveral noblemen of even higher rank were to difguife them- 
felves as failors, to mix with and incite the mob. But the 
grand flroke was to be dealt by the Duke of Marlborough. 
He was on his way from Flanders — covered, moll inoppor- 
tunely for his enemies, with the glory of one of his bell 
achievements ; that of having pafTed the flrongly fortified lines 
drawn by the French from Bouchain to Arras. On this fa- 
mous eve the duke was to have made his entry through Ald- 

* From a folio half fheet published at the time. 



Notes and Illuftrations. 2 1 5 

gate, and there met with the cry of "Victory, Bouchain, the 
Lines, no Peace ! " 

But all this was harmlefs as compared with the threatened 
fequel. On the diabolical programme were faid to be infcribed 
certain houfes that were to be burnt down. That of the Com- 
miffioners of Accounts in EfTex Street was to form the firft 
pyre, becaufe in it had been difcovered and completed Marl- 
borough's commiflbrial defalcations. The lord treafurer's was 
to follow. Harley himfelf was to have been torn to pieces, 
as the Dutch penfionary De Witt had been. Indeed the entire 
city was only to have efcaped deftruclion and rapine by a mi- 
racle. It is here that the Spectator himfelf comes upon the 
fcene. " The Spectator who ought to be but a looker on, was 
to have been an affiftant ; that, feeing London in a flame, he 
might have opportunity to paint after the life, and remark the 
behaviour of the people in the ruin of their country ; fo to 
have made a diverting Spectator."* 

Thefe were the coarfe excufes which the Tories put forth 
for fpoiling the fhow. At midnight on the 1 6- 17th of Nov. 
a poffe of Conftables made forcible entry into the Drury Lane 
temple of the waxen images, and by force of arms feized the 
Pope, the Pretender, the Cardinals, the Devil and all his 
works, a chariot to have been drawn by fix of his imps, the 
canopies, the bagpipes, the bulls, the pardons, the Proteftant 
flails, the flreamers, — in fhort the entire paraphernalia. At 
one fell fwoop the whole collection was carried off to the 
Cock pit at Whitehall, then the privy Council office. That 
the city apprentices fhould not be wholly deprived of their 
expected treat, fifteen of the group were exhibited to the public 
gratis. " I faw to-day the Pope, the Devil, and the other 
figures of cardinals, &c. fifteen in all, which have made fuch a 
noife. I hear the owners of them are fo impudent, that their 
defign is to replace them by law. The images are not worth 



* A true relation of the federal fa&s and circumjiances of the intended Riot 
and Tumult on Queen Elizabeth's birthday, &c, by an " underftrapper " of 
Swift. See his Journal, Nov. 26, 1711. 



2 1 6 Notes and Illujl rat ions. 

forty pounds, fo I ftretched a little when I faid a thoufand. 
The Grub Street account of that tumult is publilhed. The 
devil is not like Lord Treafurer ; they were all in your odd 
antic mafks bought in common fhops." Thus wrote Swift to 
Stella; yet to the public he either gave, or fuperintended an 
account of the affair which was limply a firing of all the men- 
dacious exaggerations then wilfully put about by his patrons. 
Such were the party tadtics of Sir Roger's time. 

Page 148. Squire's Coffee Houfe. In Ful wood's Rents, 
leading from Holborn into Gray's Inn Gardens as mentioned 
ante. It was much frequented by the Benchers and Students 
of Gray's Inn. Squire was a " noted coffee man " who died 
in 1717. 



Chap. XXII. Sir Roger in Westminster Abbey. 

Spectator, No. 329. Tuefday, March 18, 1712. By Ad- 
difon. 

Page 151. He bad been reading my paper upon Wefiminfter 
Abbey. Spectator, No. 26. 

Page 152. He called for a Glafs of the Widow Truebfs 
Water. One of the innumerable "ftrong waters" drunk, it is 
faid (perhaps libelloufly) chiefly by the fair fex as an exhilarant ; 
the excufes being the cholic and " the vapours." Addifon, who 
pretends in the text to find it unpalatable, is accufed of having 
been a conftant imbiber of the Widow's diftillations. Indeed, 
Tyers goes fo far as to fay on the authority of " Tacitus " Gor- 
don, that Addifon haftened his end by indulgence in them. Al- 
though an advertifement of thefe waters is not to be found in 
the Folio Spectator, yet the curious will fee in it ftrong puffs of 
other potent fpirits in difguife — thanks probably to the bufinefs 
connexions of Mr. Lillie, perfumer. A " grateful eleftuary " 
is recommended in No. 1 1 3 as having the power of railing the 
fpirits, of curing lofs of memory, and revivifying all the noble 
powers of the foul, — at the fmall charge of two and fixpence 
per bottle. 



Notes and Illuftrations. 217 

Another chymical fecret, in No. 120, promifes to cure "the 
vapours in women, infallibly, in an inftant." Daffy's Elixir is 
advertifed in No. 356. 

Page 153. The Sicknefs being at Dantzick. — The plague 
which raged there in 1709. " Idlenefs which has long raged 
in the world, deftroys more in every great town than the plague 
has done at Dantzic." Tatler y Nov. 22, 1709. 

Page 154. " Sir Cloudejly Shovel! a very gallant Man." 
This monument is in the fouth aifle of the choir. 

" Sir Cloudejly ShovePs Monument has very often given me 
great Offence : Inftead of the brave rough E?iglijh Admiral, 
which was the diftingui filing Character of that plain gallant 
Man, he is reprefented on his Tomb by the Figure of a Beau, 
dreffed in a long Perriwig, and repofing himfelf upon Velvet 
Cufhions under a Canopy of State. The Infcription is an- 
fwerable to the Monument; for inftead of celebrating the 
many remarkable Actions he had performed in the Service of 
his Country, it acquaints us only with the Manner of his 
Death, in which it was impoffible for him to reap any Ho- 
nour." Spectator, No. 26. 

The Sculptor was F. Bird. Sir Cloudefly Shovel died in 
1707. 

Page 154. Dr. Bujby ! a great Man — he whipped my 
Grandfather. Dr. Bufby was head mailer of Weftminfler 
School for Fifty-five years, and had the credit of having furnifhed 
both the church and the Mate with a greater number of eminent 
fcholars than any other pedagogue. At the Reftoration he was 
made a prebendary of Weftminfler, and carried the facred am- 
pulla at the Coronation of Charles the fecond. He was eighty- 
nine years old when he died in 1 695. His monument, fculptured 
by Bird, Hands not far from that of Sir Cloudefly Shovel. 

Page 155. The State/man Cecil upon his Knees. In the chapel 
of St. Nicholas. This tomb was erecled by the great Lord 
Burleigh, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, to the memory of 
his wife Mildred and their daughter Anne whofe effigies lie 
under a carved arch. " At the bafe of the monument, within 
Corinthian columns, are kneeling figures of Sir Robert Cecil, 
their fon, and three grand-daughters. The infcription is in 



2 1 8 Notes and Illujlrations. 

Latin, very long and very tirefome." Peter Cunningham? s 
Weftminfter Abbey. 

Page 155. That Martyr to good Houfewifry who died with the 
prick of a Needle. This is one of the " hundred lies" which 
the attendant is faid to have told Goldfmith's Citizen of the 
World " without blulhing." The monument, in St. Edmund's 
Chapel, is that of Elizabeth, youngeft daughter of Lord John 
Ruffel (temp. 1 584). " The figure is melancholily inclining her 
Cheek to her Right Hand, and with the Fore-finger of her Left 
directing us to behold the Death's Head placed at her Feet." 
(Keepe Monaf. Weftm.) This alone is faid to have originated an 
unwarrantable verdict of " died from the prick of a needle." 

Page 155. The Stone was called Jacobs Pillar [pillow]. 
This is the ftone or " Marble fatal Chair " which Gathelus, 
fon of Cecrops King of Athens, is faid to have fent from Spain 
with his fon when he invaded Ireland ; and which Fergus fon 
of Gyric won there and conveyed to Cove. The ftone was fet 
into a chair in which the kings of Scotland were crowned, till 
Edward the firft offered it, with other portions of the Scottifh 
Regalia, at the fhrine of Edward the Confelfor as an evidence 
of his abfolute conqueft of Scotland. A Leonine Couplet was 
cut in the ftone which has been thus tranflated : 

" The Scots mail brook that Realm as native ground 
(If Weirds fail not) wherever this ftone is found." 

This prophecy was fulfilled, to the fatisfaclion of the faithful in 
prophecy, by the acceffion of James VI. to the Englifh Crown. 
How it got the name of Jacob's pillow is difficult to trace. It 
is a piece of common rough Scotch fandftone ; and Sir Roger's 
queftion was extremely pertinent. — The other coronation chair 
was placed in the Abbey in the reign of William and Mary. 

Page 1 56. Sir Roger, in the next Place, laid his hand upon 
Edward the Third'' 's Sword. This " The monumental fword 
that conquered France," is placed with his fhield near the tomb 
of Edward, and which he caufed to be carried before him in 
France. The fword is feven feet long and weighs eighteen 
pounds. 



Notes and Illujirations. 219 

Page 156. The Figure of one of our Englijh Kings without 
a Head. The effigy of Henry V. which was plated with filver 
except the head, and that was of folid metal. At the difTolution 
of the monafleries the figure was ftripped of its plating, and the 
head ftolen. 



Chap. XXIII. Sir Roger at the Play. 

Speftator,No. 335. Tuefday, March 25, 1712. ByAddifon. 

Page 158. He had a great Mind to fee the new Tragedy, 
This was the DiftrefTed Mother by Ambrofe, otherwife " Paf- 
toral " Philips ; and, as it was advertifed in the above number 
of the Spectator to be performed for the fixth time, Sir Roger 
muft be fuppofed to have witnefled its fifth performance. The 
" firft night " is thus announced in the Spectator and in the 
Daily Courant of 17th March, 171 2, 

" By Defire of feveral Ladies of Quality ; by Her Majefty's 
Company of Comedians : 

c * At the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, this prefent Monday 
being 17th March will be prefented a new Tragedy called 

" THE DISTRESSED MOTHER, 

" (By Her Majefty's Command no perfon will be admitted 
behind the fcenes.) 

" Pyrrhus, Mr. Booth. Andromache, Mrs. Oldfield. 

Phoenix, Mr. Bowman.- Cephifa, Mrs. Knight. 

Oreftes, Mr. Powell. Hermione, Mrs. Porter. 

Pylades, Mr. Mills. Cleone, Mrs. Cox." 

Addifon had a ftrong friendfhip for Philips, and took extra- 
ordinary pains, firft to get his friend's play upon the Stage, and 
next to make it fucceed ; for, according to Spence he caufed 
the houfe to be packed on the firft night, No. 290 of the 
Spectator opens with a puff preliminary : 



220 Notes and Illujlrations. 

" The Players, who know I am very much their Friend, 
take all Opportunities to exprefs a Gratitude to me for being fo. 
They could not have a better Occafion of obliging me, than 
one which they lately took hold of. They deiired my Friend 
Will. Honeycomb to bring me to the Reading of a new Tra- 
gedy, it is called The Diftrejfed Mother. I mull confefs, tho' 
fome Days are parTed fince I enjoyed that Entertainment, the 
PafTions of the feveral Characters dwell flrongly upon my Ima- 
gination; and I congratulate the Age, that they are at laft 
to fee Truth and humane Life reprefented in the Incidents 
which concern Heroes and Heroines. The Stile of the Play 
is fuch as becomes thofe of the firfb Education, and the Sen- 
timents worthy thofe of the higheft Figure. It was a moft 
exquiiite Pleafure to me, to obferve real Tears drop from the 
Eyes of thofe who had long made it their Profeffion to dif- 
femble Affliction : and the Player, who read, frequently threw 
down the Book till he had given Vent to the Humanity 
which rofe in him at fome irrefiftible Touches of the imagined 
Sorrow." 

Whoever dips into this turgid tranflation of Racine's Andro- 
mache will be much amufed at the green-room grief it is faid 
to have drawn forth. Like many a worfe play, fome of its 
fuccefs was occafioned by the Epilogue as delivered by Mrs. 
Oldfield, " This was the moll fuccefsful compofition of the 
kind ever yet " fays Johnfon, " fpoken on the Englifh theatre. 
The three iirft nights it was recited twice ; and not only con- 
tinued to be demanded through the run, as it is termed, of the 
play ; but whenever it is recalled to the flage where by peculiar 
fortune, though a copy from the French, it keeps its place, the 
Epilogue is Hill expected and flill fpoken." Its reputed author 
was Budgell ; but when Addifon was afked how fuch a filly 
fellow could write fo well ? he replied, " The Epilogue was 
quite another thing when I faw it firfb." Tonfon publifhed 
the play; and when it was firfl printed, Addifon's name appeared 
to the Epilogue ; but happening to come into the fhop early in 
the morning when the copies were to be iffued, he ordered the 
credit of it to be given to Budgell "that it might add weight to 
the folicitation which he was then making for a place." This 



Notes and Ilhiftr at ions. 221 

ftory was told to Garrick by a member of the Tonfon family. — 
The prologue was by Steele. 

Page 158. The Committee — a good Church-of-England Play. 
This comedy, written by Sir Robert Howard, was popular fo 
early as 1663. Pepys, in his diary of that year, under June 
1 2 writes — " To the Theatre Royal, and there faw The Com- 
mittee, a merry but indifferent play ; only Lacy's part, an Irifh 
Footman, is beyond imagination." Poflerity has not ratified 
Pepys's criticifm as to the " indifference " of The Committee, 
for it kept poffeflion of the flage in one form or another till very 
lately. The part of Teague was always the greateft favourite, 
and gave to the Comedy the fecond title of " The Faithful Irifh- 
man." After Lacy it was filled with moll applaufe by Leigh, 
whom Charles the Second called " his Comedian : " Griffin and 
Bowman refpedtively fucceeded to it, and then the fponfor of 
the well-known jell book, Joe Miller ; of whom a mezzotint like- 
nefs as Teague is Hill extant. The Committee, cut down to a 
farce, was till lately played under the title of Honeft Thieves. 

Much of its earlier celebrity was due to the political allufions 
in which The Committee abounds — to its being, in the words 
of Sir Roger, "a good Church-of-England Play." Sir R. 
Howard wrote it to fatirize, in the character of Obadiah, the 
proceedings of the Roundheads ; and, at the fainteft dawn of re- 
ligious excitement its announcement in the play-bills was, even 
in Sir Roger's time, fure to attract large audiences. Some 
five-and- twenty years before, when James the Second attempted 
to inflict popery upon Oxford, an interpolation by Leigh — who 
was playing Teague in that city — caufed an intenfe commo- 
tion. The head of Univerfity College, Walker, (whofe firfl 
name was the fame as that of the chief part in the play — Oba- 
diah) had gone fo far, in obedience to the wifhes of the king, 
as to introduce popilh rites, and to turn his college into a Ca- 
tholic feminary. This brought upon him great indignation, a 
tremendous buril of which was vented after Leigh's exploit: — 
towards the end of the Comedy Teague has to haul in Oba- 
diah with a halter about his neck and to threaten to hang him 
for refufing to drink the king's health. " Here," fays Colley 
Cibber, "Leigh to juftiiy his purpofe with a ftronger provo- 



222 Notes and Illujirations. 

cation, put himfelf into a more than ordinary heat with his 
captive ; and, having heightened his mailer's curiofity to know 
what Obadiah had done to deferve fuch ufage, Leigh, folding 
his arms with a ridiculous flare of aflonifhment, replied : "Upon 
my fhoul, he has fhange his religion ! ' " The allufion was 
caught up and ran round like wild fire ; the theatre was fuddenly 
in an uproar of applaufe. The play was flopped. Some of 
the audience rufhed from the theatre, in open riot, to revile Oba- 
diah Walker under his own windows. Afterwards lampoons 
abounded, and fatirical ballads were publickly fung : the moll 
popular of which began : — 

" Old Obadiah 
Sings Ave Maria." 

This adventure was the firfl intimation the king received of 
the difaffecliion of his Oxford fubjetts to the popifh proceedings 
he had fet on foot there. He caufed Leigh to be feverely re- 
primanded ; and, for fear of the worfl, fent down a regiment of 
dragoons to keep the Proteflant " town and gown " in check. 
It is not impoffible that Addifon may have affifted in this riot ; 
for he had entered as a fludent at Queen's College about a year 
before it happened. 

Page 1 68. Would there not be fome Danger on coming home 
late, in cafe the Mohocks Jhould be abroad? It had been for 
many previous years the favourite amufement of difTolute young 
men to form themfelves into clubs and affociations for the cow- 
ardly pleafure of fighting and fometimes maiming harmlefs pe- 
deflrians, and even defencelefs women. They took various 
flang defignations. At the Refloration they were Muns and 
Tityre-Tus ; then Heflors and Scourers ; * later flill, Nickers 
(whofe expenfive delight it was to fmafh windows with fhowers 
of halfpence), Hawkabites, and laflly Mohocks. Thefe lafl 
took their title from "a fort of cannibals in India who fubfifl by 

* " Pirn, this is Nothing. Why, I knew the Hectors, and before them 
the Muns and Tityre-Tus : they were Brave Fellows indeed. In thofe 
Days a Man could not go from the Rofe Tavern to the Piazza once, but he 
muft venture his life twice." — The Scourers by Shadwell. 



Notes and Illujlrations. 223 

plundering and devouring all the nations about them."f Nor 
was the defignation inapt ; for if there was one fort of brutality 
on which they prided themfelves more than another, it was in 
tattooing ; or flaming people's faces with, as Gay wrote, " new- 
invented wounds." Their other exploits were quite as favage 
as thofe of their predeceflbrs, although they aimed at dafhing 
their mifchief with wit and originality. They began the even- 
ing at their clubs, by drinking to excefs in order to inflame 
what little courage they poflefled. They then fallied forth 
fword in hand. Some enacted the part of " dancing mailers " 
by thrufting their rapiers between the legs of fober citizens 
in fuch a fafhion as to make them cut the moll grotefque capers. 
The Hunt fpoken of by Sir Roger was commenced by a " view 
hallo ! " and as foon as the favage pack had run down their 
victim, they furrounded him, to form a circle with the points of 
their fwords. One gave him a puncture in the rear which na- 
turally made him wheel about, then came a prick from another, 
and fo they kept him fpinning like a top till in their mercy they 
chofe to let him go free. An adventure of this kind is narrated 
in No. 332 of the Spectator. 

Another favage diverflon was thrufting women into barrels 
and rolling them down Snow or Ludgate hill : Gay lings 

" their Mifchiefs done 



Wherefrom Snow Hill black fleepy torrents run ; 
How Matrons hoop'd within a Hogfhead's Womb 
Were tumbled furious thence ; the falling Tomb 
O'er the Stones thunders ; bounds from Side to Side : 
So Regulus to fave his Country dy'd." 

At the date of the prefent Spectator the outrages of the Mo- 
hocks were fo intolerable that they became the iubjecl: of a 
Royal Proclamation iflued on the 18th March, juft a week be- 
fore Sir Roger's vifit to Drury Lane. Swift — who was horribly 
afraid of them — mentions fome of their villanies. He writes 
two days previoufly that " Two of the Mohocks caught a Maid 

f Spectator, No. 324. 



224 Notes and Illuftr at ions. 
\ - 

of old Lady Winchelfea's at the Door of her Houfe in the 
Park with a Candle and had juft lighted out Somebody. They 
cut all her Face, and beat her without any Provocation." 

The proclamation had little effecT:. On the very day after 
our party went to the play, we find Swift exclaiming — "They 
go on Hill, and cut people's faces every night ! but they fhan't 
cut mine ; — I like it better as it is." 

Page 1 60. The fame Sword that he made ufe of at the Battle 
of Steenkirk. This battle was remarkable in the annals of fa- 
fhion for giving the name to a modiih neck-cloth. At the be- 
ginning of Auguft, 1692, while William the Third was in Flan- 
ders at the head of the allies, he difcovered an enemy's fpy in his 
camp, and to facilitate a project of furprifing the French, his ma- 
jefty caufed him to give his matter falfe information. The king 
then fet upon the enemy at day-break while they were alleep, 
androuted them. The French generals however rallied and formed 
their troops on favourable ground, turned the tables, and finally 
conquered. The allies were (o creft-fallen and difunited by this 
defeat that William broke up the Campaign and retired to 
England. The French were as much elated. Their generals — 
amongft whom were the Prince de Conde and the Duke de 
Vendome — were received in Paris with acclamation and the 
roads were lined with jubilants. The petit s maitres fhared in 
the general exultation, and although at that time it was their 
pride to arrange their lace cravats with the utmoft elaboration 
and care; yet, when they heard of the difordered drefs in 
which the generals appeared in the fight from their hafte to get 
into it, they fuddenly changed the fafhion, and wore a fort of 
lace neglige, which they called a " Steinkirk." The fafhion 
foon extended to England, and forfeveral years the " Steinkirk" 
was your fop's only wear. 



Chap. XXIV. Will Honeycomb on Widows. 
No. 359. Tuefday, April 22nd, 17 12. By Budgell. 



Notes and Illujlrations . 225 



Chap. XXV. Sir Roger at Vauxhall. 

No. 383. Tuefday, May 20, 171 2. By Addifon. 

Page 164. / had promifed to go with hi?n on the Water to 
Spring-Garden. Fox-hall or Vauxhall Gardens were a fubfli- 
tute for Old Spring Gardens, Charing Crofs, when the latter 
ceafed to be a place of public entertainment and began to be 
covered with private refidences. The name was derived from 
a " Spring " which fupplied a jet "by a wheel, which the 
gardener turns at a diftance, through a number of little pipes." 
(Hentzner's Travels). The jet was concealed and did not fpurt 
forth until an unwary vifitor trod on a particular fpot, when 
there came a felf-adminiftered mower bath. This, with ar- 
chery, bowls, a grove of" warbling birds," apleafant yard and 
a pond for bathing furnifhed the amufements. " Sometimes," 
fays Evelyn, " they would have mufic, and fup on barges oh the 
water." 

At the Reftoration builders invaded Spring Gardens, and 
its name was transferred to Vauxhall Gardens, which formed 
part of the eftate of Sir Samuel Morland, who had already (in 
1667) built a large room there. Except the Spring the amufe- 
ments were nearly the fame as in the old garden. The " clofe 
walks " were an efpecial attraction for other reafons than the 
nightingales, which, in their proper feafon, warbled in the trees. 
" The windings and turnings in the little wildernefs," quoth 
Tom Brown, " are fo intricate, that the moft experienced mo- 
thers have often loll themfelves in looking for their daughters." 
We hear little of Vauxhall from the year of Sir Roger's vifit 
( 1 7 1 2) till 1732, when it was refufcitated by Mr. Jonathan Ty- 
ers : he termed it Ridotto a I Frefco, collected an efficient or- 
cheftra, fet up an organ, engaged Hogarth and Roubillac to 
decorate the great room with paintings and ftatuary, and iffued 
filver feafon tickets at a guinea each. From his time till about 
ten or fifteen years' fince Vauxhall retained its popularity. 

Page 167. A great deal ofthe like Thames ribaldry. The"filent 
highway " was peculiarly favourable for that interchange of wit 
and repartee in which the lower orders, and even facetious people 

R R 



226 Notes and Illuflrations . 

of quality, loved to indulge. Taylor, the water poet, Swift, and 
Dr. Johnfon have bequeathed to us fome of thefe fmart fayings ; 
but they are too coarfe for repetition. 



Chap. XXVI. Sir Roger passeth away. 

Spectator, No. 517. Thurfday, Oft. 23, 1712. ByAddifon. 

Page 175. To keep them no longer in fujpenfe, Sir Roger 
de Coverley is Dead. " Mr. Addifon was fo fond of this 
character that a little before he laid down the Spectator (fore- 
feeing that fome nimble gentleman would catch up his pen the 
moment he quitted it) he faid to our intimate friend with a 
certain warmth in his expremon, which he was not often guilty 
of, f I'll kill Sir Roger that nobody elfe may murder him. ' " 
The Bee, p. 26. 

On this Chalmers fenfibly remarks that " the killing of Sir 
Roger has been fufficiently accounted for, without fuppofing 
that Addifon defpatched him in a fit of anger ; for the work 
was about to clofe, and it appeared neceffary to clofe the club ; 
but whatever difference of opinion there may be concerning 
this circumftance, it is univerfally agreed that it produced a 
paper of tranfcendent excellence in all the graces of fimplicity 
and pathos. There is not in our language any affumption of 
character more faithful than that of the honeft butler ; nor a 
more irrefiftible ftroke of nature than the circumftance of the 
book received by Sir Andrew Freeport." 

Budgell's ftory is another verfion of the reafon Cervantes gave 
for killing his hero ; — para mi fola nacio Don Quixote , y yo 
para el. Shakefpere's motive for the early demife of Mercutio 
in the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet has been accounted for by 
a iimilar fiction. 

Page 179. Captain Sentry, my Mafter*s Nephew, has taken 
pojfejjion of the Hall-Houfe, and the whole Eft ate. The 544th 
Number of the Spectator (Nov. 24th, 1712) contains a letter 
from the new Efquire, in which he fays " I cannot reflect: upon 
his [Sir Roger's] character but I am confirmed in the truth 
which I have, I think, heard fpoken at the club ; to wit, That 



Notes and Illuji rat ions. 227 

a Man of a warm and well-difpofed Heart, with a very fmall 
Capacity, is highly fuperior in human Society to him who with 
the greateft Talents is cold and languid in his Affections. But, 
alas ! why do I make a difficulty in fpeaking of my worthy 
Anceftor's Failings ? His little Abfurdities and Incapacity for 
the Converfation of the Politeft Men are dead with him, and 
his greater Qualities are even now ufeful to him. I know not 
whether by naming thofe Difabilities I do not enhance his 
Merit, fince he has left behind him a Reputation in his Coun- 
try which would be worth the pains of the wifeft Man's whole 
Life to arrive at." — " I have continued all Sir Roger's fervants 
except fuch as it was a relief to difmifs unto little livings within 
my manour ; thofe who are in a lift of the good Knight's own 
hand to be taken care of by me I have quartered upon fuch as 
have taken new leafes of me, and added fo many advantages 
during the lives of the perfons fo quartered, that it is the intereft 
of thofe whom they are joined with to cherifh and befriend 
them on all occasions." 




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